St. Louis Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock is giving the veteran a chance to pick up the ball and run with it.
Or, in hockey terms, Brian Elliott will start Tuesday's game in San Jose after posting a shutout in Vancouver in his return from an almost month-long absence due to injury.
If he's able to make good on that opportunity, he could very well assert himself as the Blues' starting goalie down the stretch and into the playoffs.
Elliott's return comes on the heels of two rough outings for Jake Allen, who allowed nine goals on 43 shots in starts against Edmonton and Calgary. And while the 25-year-old has shown flashes of dominance at time this season, the elder Elliott has posted the better numbers, albeit in fewer outings.
Player
GP
Record
Sv%
GAA
Shutouts
Jake Allen
44
24-14-3
.917
2.42
5
Brian Elliott
31
18-7-6
.931
2.07
2
Heading into the season, it was expected that Hitchcock would deploy Elliott and Allen in a 1A-1B starting situation, and both have been called upon to step up over long stretches while the other was injured.
With nine games remaining on the schedule, the Blues are sandwiched between Dallas and Chicago in the Central Division standings, with two points separating St. Louis from both each way. Finishing first would ensure an opening round series against a wild card opponent, giving the Blues the impetus to finish as strong as possible.
For the time being, it's Elliott's crease to lose, but don't write that in anything but pencil quite yet.
Sutter suffered a broken jaw in February. He'll be limited to just 20 games in his debut season with the Canucks after being sidelined previously by a sports hernia.
Edler suffered a fibula fracture in the same game that felled Sutter. The top-pairing defenseman collected 20 points and led all Canucks skaters in average ice time, logging almost 24 1/2 minutes in his 52 games.
Lastly, Vrbata labored through a trying second season in Vancouver. He was limited to 27 points in 63 games after scoring 31 goals and 63 points the year prior.
Petr Mrazek is on the mend from an illness that prevented him from dressing over the weekend, but Jimmy Howard will make his third straight start for the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday regardless.
Howard wasn't brilliant Saturday in Florida, but followed that up with a strong effort in a mid-week win over Columbus to earn two important points, and will have an opportunity to anchor a third-straight victory when the Red Wings visit Tampa Bay.
Mrazek earned, and has since protected, his No. 1 role from the veteran netminder with significantly superior performances over the last 14 months. But he's wobbled at a most inopportune time, sporting a .901 save percentage through six March starts.
Detroit is three points up on the Philadelphia Flyers for the final wild card seed in the East.
TORONTO - Mike Babcock is getting promising results out of the youngest NHL roster he has ever coached.
Babcock's Maple Leafs dressed 11 players aged 23 and under against the Buffalo Sabres over the weekend and came away with a thorough 4-1 v...
Wiercioch has again been a source of frustration for Senators fans despite being only one of two defenseman with a plus on-ice goal differential at even strength.
He'll miss a full month with injury and be limited to 55 appearances if his issue does indeed cost him the rest of the year.
RALEIGH, N.C. - Injured All-Star defenceman Justin Faulk is back practicing with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Faulk took part in the Hurricanes' skate Monday while wearing a yellow, no-contact jersey. He has been dealing with an unspecified lower...
Perreault, who was taking top-line minutes before his exit, was injured Sunday versus the Anaheim Ducks when he caught an edge and slammed backwards into the boards.
He remained on the ice for several moments before requiring assistance to get up and down the tunnel.
With nine goals and 32 assists, Perreault is two points shy of matching his career-best output from two seasons ago when he was a member of the Ducks.
TORONTO - Back in late May, much fanfare accompanied the Toronto Maple Leafs' hiring of Mike Babcock as head coach. Not to be forgotten in the sweepstakes were the Buffalo Sabres, who reportedly met with Babcock prior to his decision. At his introductory press conference in Toronto, members of the Buffalo media put Babcock on the spot about the details.
But the end result is what mattered. Toronto won the Babcock sweepstakes, while the Sabres lost.
On Saturday, the Maple Leafs hosted the Sabres in a game that had zero short-term implications. Both teams won't compete for the Stanley Cup.
In fact, both teams are going through full-scale rebuilds, but appear headed in different directions.
There is no quick rebuild
The Sabres have been rebuilding for years now. They've been near the bottom of the standings for the past few seasons and have had some summers to double-down on young talent, while adding the odd veteran here and there to complement the roster.
The Maple Leafs are in the first year of their rebuild, a dismantling long overdue. And there are already signs that Toronto has learned how to do it a little bit better.
To compare the Sabres' rebuild fairly, you need only go back to the 2011-12 season. Multi-billionaire Terry Pegula purchased the team in February 2011, giving Buffalo the wherewithal to compete with the NHL's very best teams. Pegula made a bold declaration: Buffalo would be a free-agent destination, and the Sabres would be players in the market. In July 2011, forward Ville Leino became a Sabre, signed to a six-year, $27-million contract.
Days before the Leino signing, the Sabres traded for the rights to defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, and then signed him to a 10-year, $40-million contract. Pegula's words delivered action.
Buffalo narrowly missed out on the 2012 playoffs, by three points, but the regression was underway. Older players had to be moved out and both Leino's and Ehrhoff's contracts were ultimately purged under compliance-buyout rules in June 2014.
"A lot of nights, this team was hard to watch," Sabres general manager Tim Murray said when he addressed the media at the end of the 2013-14 season, in which his team finished last by 14 points. "This is not going to be a five-year rebuild, not for me anyway. That's not what I want."
Sound familiar?
It's the same notion Brian Burke had when he served as president and general manager of the Maple Leafs. On March 3, 2010, Burke addressed the media following the trade deadline.
"Like you saw with the (Phil) Kessel deal, we're not interested in a five-year rebuilding plan," Burke said.
Patience a virtue many GMs can't afford
The Sabres finished last again in 2014-15, though Murray was busy.
Buffalo made some additions, trading for talented forward Evander Kane from the Winnipeg Jets. Kane came with baggage, but Buffalo represented a fresh start. This season, he was disciplined by the team for sleeping in and missing practice after attending the NBA All-Star game in Toronto the night before.
In late June 2015, the Sabres traded for Ryan O’Reilly, and the forward was immediately signed to a seven-year, $52.5-million extension. He will make $11 million next season, which includes a $10-million signing bonus.
Outside of Rasmus Ristolainen, Buffalo's defense is in need of severe help. It starts with a solid structure and some patience.
They drafted Jack Eichel, a heck of a consolation prize to Connor McDavid, but the Sabres have demonstrated a lack of patience.
Patience off the ice, too
In June 2015, the Maple Leafs' overhaul included the hiring of a new doctor, Jeremy Bettle, as director of sports science. In late July, Toronto shocked everyone, hiring Lou Lamoriello as its general manager.
Before the Sabres and Maple Leafs played Saturday, Buffalo head coach Dan Bylsma was answering questions about a tense parting of ways with the club's director of performance, Oliver Finlay. He didn't survive his first season on the job, thanks to some resistance to his methods.
Many of the Maple Leafs' prospects have been dominating the AHL. The Toronto Marlies have the league's best record, and were the first team to clinch a playoff spot. Buffalo's farm team, the Rochester Americans, is occupying the last playoff spot in the North Division, with two teams threatening to bump it out of postseason contention.
A rebuilding rivalry
The Buffalo-Toronto rivalry is not about what has been happening on the ice, but about the foundation both organizations are trying to build. Both have taken very different approaches, but it appears Toronto is winning the battle at the moment.
It's still early, and some of the challenges both markets go through are very different. But it's hard to fault Toronto's approach, one season in.
Buffalo Sabres rookie forward Jack Eichel is making the trip to Carolina, and is expected to be in the lineup Tuesday versus the Hurricanes.
He was unavailable over the weekend - and in a loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs - with flu-like symptoms, but it's suspected he was dealing with food poisoning.
Eichel ranks second in rookie scoring behind Chicago's Artemi Panarin with 22 goals and 27 assists in 72 games.
He's also nine points up on the hard-charging Connor McDavid, for those counting.
Ducks forward David Perron is travelling back to Anaheim for an MRI on his injured right shoulder.
The extent of the injury is unknown, but as of now, he's considered week to week. Anaheim has four stops remaining on its Eastern road trip.
Perron suffered the knock in Sunday's win over the Winnipeg Jets when he lost his balance on a forecheck and crashed shoulder-first into the boards.
The multi-faceted winger has provided a discernible lift since his acquisition from the Pittsburgh Penguins, scoring eight times and adding 12 assists.
Anaheim has 21 wins in his 28 appearance with the club.
