By Tim Schmitt
BUFFALO — After signing a two-year contract with Buffalo worth over $3 million last summer, defenseman Steve Montador’s contributions had been subtle through the team’s first 14 games.
On Wednesday, though, the veteran made an impact on the scoreboard — notching his first goal as a Sabre in a 3-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Montador, who has played in Calgary, Florida, Boston and Anaheim, had eight goals in 2007-08 with Florida, but has never scored more than four goals in any other season.
He stepped into a slapper from just outside the face-off circle that gave Buffalo a 2-0 edge in the second period. Tim Connolly and Andrej Sekera got the assists.
“It sat it up there in the middle, I’ve been taken a number of shots high recently and I thought I’d keep this one lower. It went through. I think (Nikolai) Khabibulin was playing the other shot, then he stepped up pretty high and it got through,” Montador said. “I was happy to be a part of the big goal, it gave us a 2-0 lead at the time. I’m very excited that I got my first one out of the way. I’ve had a number of chances and it was pretty timely, I guess you could say. It gave us a little bit of comfort room.”
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A scary moment happened in the third period when Clarke MacArthur caught Liam Reddox off-balance and the Edmonton winger crashed hard into the boards. Reddox seemed to be falling before the contact, yet MacArthur was given a five-minute penalty for boarding and a game misconduct for the hit.
Edmonton coach Pat Quinn said Reddox will need X-rays on a swollen wrist, and that he also sustained a cut on his face.
“Watching it on tape, (MacArthur) knew exactly what he was doing. I don’t have anything to say on it. His head got smacked, and he took a pretty nasty hit,” Quinn said.
“That’s a tough call. It’s really just a hockey play,” Lindy Ruff said. “Clarke’s just leaning on him, trying to get position and his legs got tangled up. It’s a tough call. I understand why they called it, because of how he went it, but there’s no intent. There’s no running. He was trying to lean on him and make sure he didn’t get the puck out of the zone.”
“I didn’t see it. But I saw the beginning of it. I don’t think Clarkie intended to hit the player the way he did,” Montador added. “Obviously, it made it interesting.”
Patrick O’Sullivan hit the outside of the net with the best chance for Edmonton, but the Sabres allowed just two shots during the five minutes.
“They did a real nice job,” Ruff said of the penalty-killing unit. “Our lanes were good. They might have had one when they hit the post. We did a good job in lanes, we did a good job staying in front of people. When they did get one around the front of the net, we were right there for the rebound.”
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In the morning, the National Hockey League’s general managers met in Toronto to discuss stricter rules on blows to the head.
Soon after, a majority made the trek down the QEW to take in Wednesday’s game. Among those rambling through the press box on Wednesday were Bob Gainey, Darryl Sutter, Rick Dudley and former Toronto GM John Ferguson Jr.
Some might stay. With the Sabres farm team in town tonight — Portland hosts the Rochester Americans — and the Sabres hosting Calgary on Friday, GMs can see five different teams in a three-night span.
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Ryan Miller improved to 10-2-1 on the season, kicking aside 28 shots in earning the game’s first star.
Perhaps Miller’s best save of the night came in the second period when Craig Rivet got caught up ice and the Oilers barreled in two on one.
Patrick O’Sullivan seemed to have a sprawling Miller beaten, but the goalie got his glove on the puck, and then it plunked off the goal post.
Miller said he was happy with the team’s effort, even though the constant string of penalties made play choppy.
“I thought we skated well considering there were a lot of penalties. That’s something we don’t want to do every night,” Miller said. “We don’t want to give a team that’s played back-to-back a chance to stay in the game just by giving them power-play opportunities. But sometimes, that’s just how it works.
“I thought overall, our game was a lot better. Moving forward, we’ve got to learn our lesson and be happy we played a pretty good game and got a win.”
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Derek Roy didn’t keep his goal-scoring streak alive, but he did have one of the nicest moves of the night as he nearly extended the Sabres’ lead to 3-1.
Roy was facing Edmonton’s Steve Staois one on one, and made an incredible move where he turned Staois completely around by deking one way, then darting back. Roy was foiled by Khabibulin, but Staois — who played his junior hockey with the Ontario Hockey League’s Niagara Falls Thunder — was called for hooking.
Roy had scored goals in each of his last three games after failing to register a tally in the team’s first 11 contests.
Contact sports editor Tim Schmitt at 282-2311, ext. 2266.
