With the roster getting healthy, the Sabres have sent rookie forward Nathan Gerbe back to Portland of the AHL. Gerbe did not dress in Thursday’s 4-1 win over Toronto. Coach Lindy Ruff said that the demotion was not a result of poor play.
“The make-up of the lines with him not being in the top-3, it’s not a position for him to be playing. I had a good discussion with him. I think his game has a ways to go but he did a lot of good things. His energy that he brought to the game was a real good thing for us.”
In six games with Buffalo, Gerbe had one assist and was a plus-3 with 14 shots on goal.
Coach Ruff had good news to deliver on the injury front. Captain Craig Rivet should return to action next week. Center Tim Connolly could be back by the end of next week.
probably due to rivet coming back this week…and Connolly supposed to be coming back in a week (ill believe that when i see it)
As much as I’m sick of Conolly, I feel so bad for the guy. It’s not like he keeps having recurring infuries; he’s getting randomly injured every time he steps on the ice. Imagine how much must feel.
I still stay TRADE HIM!
Throw Hecht in there, too, and we might get a decent return.
2 big wins in a row. Still a fair amount of stupid mistakes but at least they’re not losing the games over them anymore. Miller is on his game making up for the defense slacking a bit still (hopefully we get Rivet back soon) and someone besides Vanek is scoring.
Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) – Lindy Ruff says his captain will be back tomorrow as he’s recovered enough from a shoulder injury. Craig Rivet hasn’t played since December 10th missing 11 games. Chris Butler was still at practice Monday because Teppo Numminen was out due to sickness.
Ruff said Maxim Afinogenov is getting more tests on his groin, but he thinks it could be a long term thing. Afinogenov missed 26 games last year with a groin problem. Ruff wasn’t sure if they’d call up a forward or go with Andrew Peters against Ottawa.
Tim Connolly is still progressing well and Ruff said he’s scheduled to play by the weekend. That would mean either the Ranger game on Friday or in Detroit on Saturday.
Ruff put the troops through a hard hour today in the Marina. He wants to make sure he stays on top of them after two very good efforts in Toronto and Boston.