Buffalo Coach Ruff Makes Cut, Ponders More

With the deadline for NHL teams to set their opening day rosters set for tomorrow at 3p.m. and with 26 players still in Buffalo, Coach Lindy Ruff has some difficult decisions to make.

Earlier today Ruff announced center Cody McCormick was sent down to Buffalo's AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates.

An injury to defenseman Toni Lydman may make room for Tyler Myers, all of 19 years old, to make the roster.

“Obviously there’s the possibility that I get sent back,” Myers said. “I’ve thought about how I’d handle that if it came to that, but right now I’m going to take it day-by-day and do the best I can to stay here.”

Further complicating the decision is the fact that forwards Drew Stafford (mild concussion) and Adam Mair (off-season hip surgery) may not be ready to start the season.

“He tested well today and we’ll see where he’s at in the next couple days,” Ruff said of Stafford. “We’ll let tomorrow play out.”

Bruins Send Hamill, Marchand Back to Providence

The Boston Bruins announced that they have assigned center Zach Hamill and forward Brad Marchand to their AHL affiliate in Providence. The move leaves Boston with 22 players on their roster with three days left before the season opener.

The demotion of Hamill and Marchand most likely means that Sobotka has made the team. Could this also mean that David Krejci is close to returning? We'll find out Thursday. For now, enjoy some Krejci hightlights from last season:

Bruins Fall to Blue Jackets In Pre-season Final

Bruins went down, but not without a fight... or two.

With stars Rick Nash and Steve Mason not playing, the Columbus Blue Jackets were still able to defeat the Boston Bruins, 4-2. This was Columbus' second win over the Bruins this pre-season.

Matt Calvert opened the scoring 2:42 into the first on assists from Derek Dorsett and Andrew Murray. Vladimir Sobotka tied the game up just a few minutes later on a nice feed from Chris Neil killer Milan Lucic.

The second period saw only one goal, as Milan Lucic took the puck behind the net and found Zdeno Chara streaking towards the goal on a nice back door play.

Then in the third, the game got ugly in more ways than one. Dany Heatley has passed more driving tests than the Boston Bruins completed passes in the third. For fans it was a horrible reminder of how the Bruins played against Carolina in their second rounds series last year.

Columbus quickly took advantaged and tied up the game on a Raffi Torres goal. Just a few minutes later Raffi Torres took advantage of yet another Bruins turnover and fed the puck to Nikita Filatov who faked Tuuka Rask out of his pads for the go ahead goal.

On the next exchange Michael Blunden of Columbus tripped and plowed into goalie Tuuka Rask. Boston, thinking this was no accident, decided to seek him out on the next play as Chuck Kobasew dropped the gloves with Blunden in a hug fest.

Off to the side, Shawn Thornton and Jared Boll engaged in a more spirited bout. Despite Boll getting the take down, Thornton clearly got the better of him:




Kobasew received a roughing penalty and Columbus put the nail in the coffin with a powerplay goal.

The Bruins finished the pre-season with a 5-2-1 record.

Stahlberg Leads Maple Leafs Past Red Wings

Viktor Stahlberg had two goals and assisted on another as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-4 in a shootout.

Super rookie Nazem Kadri and Mikhail Grabvoski added goals, with Grabvoski's goal coming late in the third to tie the game. Niklas Kronwall and Johan Franzen each had two goals for the Red Wings. The Red Wings scored three quick third period goals to take the leads.

"We fell apart for a couple of minutes in the third," Stalberg said. "A few mistakes, which is easy to do against the Red wings when they're pressuring."

Nikolai Kulemin and John Mitchell scored in the shootout to give the Maple Leafs the victory.

Jonas Gustavsson did not see much work, but stopped all 7 shots he faced. The Toronto Maple leafs continued their pre-season tonight in a rematch against the Red Wings

Thomas racks up saves, Bruins beat Senators 2-1

Despite his shakey performance against the Blue Jackets last week, Thomas is looking like the Vezina Trophy winner he is. Due to some big plays by some young Bruins blood and a 35 save night for Thomas, The Bruins are able to overcome the Senators by a score of 2-1.

I should be known, however that it was not for lack of trying on the Ottawa's part. They managed to outshoot boston 36-20 and Leclaire stopped 18 of 20 shots on net. The first period saw Ottawa's Ryan Shannon scoring first after being fed by Chris Campoli and Jason Spezza. Boston's Brad Marchand was able to answer back with help from Derek Morris and Marc Savard. After a fairly uneventful 2nd period, Drew Fata managed to score the game winning goal in the 3rd on assists by Jeff LoVecchio and Vladimir Sobotka.

No doubt the real headline of this game was the absolute massacre of Chris Neal's face, courtesy of Milan Lucic...oh and Shawn Thornton fought Matt Carkner.

Lucic Vs. Neal


Thornton Vs. Carkner


Bruins have their final preseason game today against Columbus. Ottawa ha no more preseason games and starts their Regular season Oct 3rd against the Rangers

Preview: Maple Leafs vs Red Wings

The Toronto Maples Leafs continue their pre-season as they face off against the Detroit Cryers Red Wings.

Jonas "The Monster" Gustavsson is expected to see action after undergoing a procedure to correct an electrical problem in his heart last week. The excepted line-ups for both teams are:

Maple Leafs Lineup

FORWARDS
Jiri Tlusty - Mikhail Grabovski - Nikolai Kulemin
Viktor Stalberg - Tyler Bozak - Christian Hanson
Rickard Wallin - John Mitchell - Lee Stempniak
Jay Rosehill - Nazem Kadri - Wayne Primeau

DEFENCE
Francois Beauchemin - Luke Schenn
Carl Gunnarsson - Garnet Exelby
Andy Rogers - Jonas Frogren

GOALIES
Vesa Toskala
Jonas Gustavsson

Red Wings Lineup

FORWARDS
Johan Franzen-Pavel Datsyuk-Tomas Holmstrom
Todd Bertuzzi-Valtteri Filppula-Dan Cleary
Kris Draper-Justin-Abdelkader-Mattias Ritola
Brad May-Kris Newbury-Francis Pare

DEFENCE
Nick Lidstrom-Brian Rafalski
Niklas Kronwall-Brad Stuart
Brett Lebda-Jonathan Ericsson

GOALIES
Chris Osgood
Jimmy Howard

Kris Draper is questionable with a sore eye after spending the entire summer crying about Sidney Crosby's handshake protocol.

Bruins Down Canadiens In Shootout

In a game that featured a fantastic goalie duel and Lovecchio doing his best Lucic impression, the Boston Bruins pulled out a 2-1 victory over the rival Montreal Turtles (Canadiens).



After letting in 5 goals on 19 shots agains the Rangers Tim Thomas looked sharper in stopping 33 of 34 shots. "I had a rough first outing in the preseason and it's good to follow it up with a strong one," said Thomas, the Vezina Trophy winner last season as the NHL's top goalie. "It doesn't mean that everything's perfect now, but it's a step in the right direction."

Halak stopped 26 of 27 shots for the Canadiens.

The first period didn't see much action in the scoring department, but there was a spirited bought between Boston's Guillaume Lefebvre and Montreal's Greg Stewart:



Montreal pulled ahead in the second period on a goal from Sergei Kostitsyn on a rebound (assists from Plekanec and Montreal mobsters).

The Bruins tied the game in the third on a nice feed from Michael Ryder to Mark Stuart.

Mike Cammalleri didn't meet the height requirement to play left in the first period with a lower body injury and did not return.

In the shootout, Patrice Bergeron beat Halak on Boston's second attempt for the only goal in the shootout and the victory. Boston returns to action tonight against the Ottawa Senators.

Preview: Bruins vs Canadiens

Northeast Division pre-season action continues tonight as the Boston Bruins begin a series of three games in three days against the rival Montreal Canadiens.

Players dressing tonight for the Bruins:

Forwards Patrice Bergeron, Zach Hamill, Chuck Kobasew, Guillaume Lefevbre, Jeff LoVecchio, Kirk MacDonald, Michael Ryder, Vladimir Sobotka, Blake Wheeler, Trent Whitfield.

Defensemen Johnny Boychuk, Drew Fata, Andrew Ference, Adam McQuaid, Mark Stuart, Dennis Wideman.

Goalies Tim Thomas, Dany Sabourin.

We will update when the Canadiens get around to posting their expected starting line-up. But for now, enjoy a classic Bruins vs Canadiens brawl, featuring the mighty Stan Jonathan:

Senators Demoted Mike Brodeur to AHL

The Ottawa Senators have assigned goaltender Mike Brodeur to their AHL affiliate in Binghamton. Brodeur did not see much action in pre-season, allowing one goal on 10 shots in just 26 minutes of game time.

Mike Brodeur is the first cousin of some goalie named Martin Brodeur.

Sabres Hold Off Maples Leafs, Win 3-2

The Buffalo Sabres prevailed in a close game over the Toronto Maple Leafs that surprisingly featured only fight (down from Toronto's average of 19). Hey if you can't score, might as well fight.


Jay Rosehill (Maple Leafs) vs Cody McCormick (Sabres)




If Rosehill is trying to make the roster he might want to do something other than fight, as the Leafs have plenty of goons for that.

The Sabres had a strong second period, getting goals from Nathan Paetsch, Jochen Hecht and Cody McCormik. Toronto's Jiri Tlusty scored on a penalty shot. This is one Miller wishes he could have back... just wow.





"I didn't mean to do that, but I count every goal," Tlusty said. "It doesn't matter how it went in."

The third period didn't see much action. John Mitchell scored for the Maple Leafs to close the gap to one goal and was assisted by Nazem Kadri who is still making a strong case for an opening night roster spot. Toronto outshot the Sabres 10-2 in the third, but could only beat Miller once.

Joey MacDonald had a decent showing, stopping 28 of the 31 shots he faced. Buffalo's Ryan Miller continued his strong pre-season saving 23 of 25 shots (outside of that penalty shot... he probably had nightmares about that one last night).

Bruins Demote Four Players to Providence

Boston Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli announced today that Jamie Arneil, Andrew Bodnarchuk, Jeff Penner and Kevin Regan were all assigned to the Bruins AHL affiliate in Providence.

Boston still has 36 players on the roster, which needs to be trimmed down to 23 by September 30th. Coach Claude Julien has indicated there are still a few forwards he wants to evaluate and after an effort against Columbus that was like Hossa in a Stanley Cup Final, Julien will use the remaing three pre-season games to see who deserves to fill out the roster.

The Bruins play the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, the Ottawa Senators on Friday and have a re-match against the Blue Jackets on Saturday.

Maples Leafs vs Sabres Pre-Season Action

Only one game tonight involing Adams Div... uhhh, Northeast division teams as the Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Slugs, sorry, Sabres face-off tonight as 7:00 PM.

Buffalo's starting line-up:

Clarke MacArthur - Derek Roy - Drew Stafford
Jochen Hecht - Paul Gaustad - Mike Grier
Philip Gogulla - Tim Kennedy - Jason Pominville
Cody McCormick - Matt Ellis - Jeff Cowan

DEFENSE:
Chris Butler - Tyler Myers
Toni Lydman - Henrik Tallinder
Nathan Paetsch - Steve Montador

GOALIES:
Ryan Miller
Jhonas Enroth

Toronto's starting line-up:

Niklas Hagman - Matt Stajan - Jason Blake
Alexei Ponikarovsky - Mikhail Grabovski - Tyler Bozak
Viktor Stalberg - John Mitchell - Christian Hanson
Jay Rosehill - Nazem Kadri - Jiri Tlusty

DEFENCE
Ian White - Garnet Exelby
Luke Schenn - Carl Gunnarsson
Jonas Frogren - Andy Rogers

GOALIES
Vesa Toskala
Joey MacDonald