Buffalo, NY (WGR 500) -- The Sabres had two groups on the practice ice, but it looks like the lines are coming together. Tim Connolly is centering Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville, Derek Roy is between Clarke MacArthur and Drew Stafford, Paul Gaustad heads up a checking line with Jochen Hecht and Mike Grier. Matt Ellis centers Dan Paille and Pat Kaleta. Another line has Tim Kennedy between Nathan Gerbe and Cody McCormick. Lindy Ruff says the position Nathan Paetsch is in is not fair, but it's part of hockey. Paestch will start the season on the wing, but be depth on defense. Ruff said, "If you look at our depth chart on defense, he's in a tough spot. I liked what he did at LW in the last couple of games, he can easily be our depth guy on defense, he's going to have to push through and be a factor on the forward side to start the season, especially with the addition of Montador. He's got incredible attitude and incredible work ethic. He's going to survive somehow, I know that."
Adam Mair, who recovering from hernia surgery has been cleared to skate on his own. Matt Generous had a tendon in his ankle sliced. It's 20 percent through and will keep him out at least a month. He can't even put weight on it for two weeks. Steve Montador missed practice with a stinger.
Ruff said Kennedy, Gerbe and Tyler Myers will play at least four of the six preseason games. Ryan Miller starts tomorrow in Detroit. Ruff said his number one goalie will get at least three full games.
His backup, Patrick Lalime made six saves on seven shots against Washington. He went just over 33 minutes. Lalime had two surgeries on his hip and sports hernia. He says he's now up to 100 percent. Lalime refused to use the injuries as an excuse but did admit he played with the pain near the end of the season. He played 24 games and was 5-13-3 with a 3.10 goals against. The other season Lalime only played a little his numbers were again bad in St.Louis. 4-18-8 with a 3.64 goals against. As far as his opinion on his season, "There were some ups and downs. I had a good run for awhile and at the end, the last few games were not the way I liked it so I'm looking to do my part this year." Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier have said more times than I care to hear that the reason the team didn't make the playoffs was the injury to Miller. I wondered if Lalime was bothered by that, "I understand where they're coming from. Ryan is an elite goalie in the league and every time you lose a big piece like this, I just try to fill in. It seems like I had a hard time getting wins on the board last year and we'll change that." Lalime often had to sit between 14 and 18 days between starts. He said, "It was a learning experience for me last year not playing that much, but you learn through it. It's always nice to be out there and play a little more, but that's part of it. I'm here to try to push Millsie and try to make him play his best and whenever i get a chance, play well."
Lalime will be on the first intermission tomorrow with Brian Koziol. Tough guy Cody McCormick is on for the second.
Ruff is changing his system a little. He said there's a change in the defensive zone and a change in the neutral zone, but we've already seen the change in the offensive zone last night. Ruff said, "There's a little adjustment in the defensive zone, we've got a little adjustment in the neutral zone to try to supply a little pressure in the offensive zone is trying to get our attack ramped up and quicker. Our drills are built around first attack, second attack and then get off the ice, you know, quicker plays. I think if you watch the first period, you saw that. We had three or four quick strikes right in a row, we got the odd number rushes, we got the breakaway by Ennis, for the first 30 minutes, I really liked where we were at. I think we got tired and instead of shortening our shifts, we lengthened them and for the last little bit of the second period we hurt ourselves."
To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 1 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy tips.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 2 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy tips.; tournament; WGR; Jeremy White; Golf; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 3 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy tips.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 4 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 5 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 6 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 7 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 8 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala;
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