Schenn. That was under a previous regime that believed the 6-foot-3, 217-pound left winger wasn’t tough enough, but GM Ron Hextall sees a player who checks the boxes for a playoff contender with a few holes.”We felt with the fit that we

BUFFALO Michael Grabner Jersey Womens , N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Sabres had tired legs in the second game of a back-to-back set. Linus Ullmark, however, was rested and ready to go.The backup goaltender made 36 saves in his second NHL shutout and the Sabres got goals from Rasmus Dahlin and Jeff Skinner in beating the Anaheim Ducks 3-0 on Saturday night to snap a two-game skid.“Back-and-forth travels, not just back-to-backs at home or something like that, that takes a toll on your body. It’s hard,” Ullmark said. “Obviously, you’re going to be a little tired the second day. So for me it’s about being mentally sharp even more when I get in there.”Sabres announcer Rick Jeanneret was taken out of the press box on a stretcher early in the third period. It was unclear what happened to the 76-year-old Jeanneret, the team’s play-by-play man since 1971 — marking the longest tenure with a single team in NHL history.Buffalo did not provide an immediate update on his condition following the game, but one was expected. WGR radio, the Sabres’ flagship station, reported Jeanneret was responsive before getting onto the stretcher.Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart each had two assists and Connor Sheary added an empty-net goal.“I’m just happy we ended on a win going into the break,” Sabres coach Phil Housley said. “The guys should be able to relax and regain some energy.”The Ducks finished a five-game road trip with their third consecutive loss following a 9-0-1 stretch. John Gibson stopped 21 shots.“Playing on the road for 10 days here, it’s been tiresome at times,” coach Randy Carlyle said. “We had developed a blue-collar type of attitude and we were more of that hockey club tonight than in our last game.”Skinner scored his 26th of the season to make it 2-0 with 8:35 remaining. Skinner maneuvered around Ducks defenseman Pontus Aberg to the right edge of the crease and lifted a backhand over Gibson’s glove into the far corner of the net.Buffalo took a 1-0 lead late in the first on a power-play goal from Dahlin http://www.sanjosesharksteamshop.com/authentic-brent-burns-jersey , the 18-year-old defenseman selected first overall in this year’s draft.Dahlin received a pass from Rasmus Ristolainen at the top of the right circle and launched a wrist shot over Gibson’s glove and inside the near post for his fourth of the season. The goal ended an 0-for-9 drought on the power play for the Sabres and was Dahlin’s first at home.“I’ve been waiting for it,” Dahlin said. “It was good that the first one was in a win.”Gibson stopped 15 shots in the second period to keep the Ducks within a goal. His best sequence came when he denied Skinner on a partial breakaway and then slid over to make a glove save on Eichel’s point-blank shot off the rebound.The Ducks made a push in the third period, but Ullmark made 15 saves and the Sabres killed three penalties.BEHIND THE MICROPHONEJeanneret opened the broadcast dressed in a red Santa Claus suit and a white beard. After the Sabres broadcast went silent for a stretch in the third period, color commentator Rob Ray took over calling the play by play. Later, pregame and postgame host Brian Duff finished calling the game.Jeanneret entered the Hockey Hall of Fame as the 2012 recipient of the Foster Hewitt Award. In 2014, he was diagnosed with throat cancer but only missed a few games during the 2014-15 season after receiving treatment. In 2016, he was fitted with a pacemaker due to a slow pulse.In recent years, Jeanneret and the Sabres reached a deal to scale back his work and have him call about half the team’s games.NOTES: Ducks D Jake Dotchin received a 10-minute misconduct and game misconduct penalties after he stood in the runway to the dressing room and yelled at the conclusion of the second period. … Reinhart extended his career-best point streak to 12 games. It’s the longest active streak in the NHL. … Eichel recorded a point in his eighth straight game. … Dahlin has 20 points this season, the 10th-most by an NHL defenseman before his 19th birthday. Housley holds the record with 57 points in the 1982-83 season. … Buffalo assigned D Brendan Guhle to Rochester after defensemen Jake McCabe and Lawrence Pilut returned from injured reserved for Thursday’s loss at Washington.UP NEXTDucks: At San Jose on Thursday.Sabres: At St. Louis on Thursday. John Tavares isn’t the only free agent going back to a familiar place.Several players are returning to their former teams and comfortable situations – from James van Riemsdyk going back to Philadelphia on the second-richest July 1 deal to Matt Cullen taking a significant pay cut to rejoin the Pittsburgh Penguins he helped win the Stanley Cup twice. It’s not quite the tug at the heartstrings that led Tavares to sign a $77 million, seven-year deal with his boyhood Toronto Maple Leafs, but familiarity was part of the bustle on the opening day of NHL free agency .”I have that comfortablity with knowing a lot about the organization having played there in the past and having a lot of familiar faces still on the staff and stuff like that,” van Riemsdyk said after signing a $35 million, five-year deal with the Flyers. ”Even just remembering to my time previously is just how bad obviously they want to win and they’re willing to put the resources into that. That passion and that commitment to that was a big thing for me.”Unsure there’d be room for him after his old team re-signed Riley Sheahan, Cullen signed a $650 Marian Hossa Jersey Womens ,000, one-year deal with the Penguins after spending a season back home in Minnesota. Tomas Plekanec was away from Montreal for only a few months, signing a bonus-laden $2.25 million, one-year deal with the Canadiens after they traded him to the rival Maple Leafs at the deadline.Plekanec had planned since the end of the season to go back to Montreal, where his family remained when he went to Toronto. He will be back at the Bell Centre on a contract that can be worth another $1.25 million in incentives. The 35-year-old will get to play his 1,000th career regular-season game in his familiar blue, white and red uniform this October.”That was my priority,” Plekanec said. ”I wanted to come back.”While Plekanec obviously felt a strong connection to Montreal after 14 seasons there, David Perron will be playing for the St. Louis Blues for the third time in his NHL career after signing for $16 million over four years. Perron spent his first six seasons with the Blues after they took him in the first round in 2007, returned as a free agent two summers ago, was taken by the Golden Knights in the expansion draft a year ago and is back again after setting career highs with 50 assists and 66 points in Las Vegas.”Obviously (the Golden Knights) made the right decision with the way that David played for them,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. ”He certainly could’ve made more money on the market. He wanted to come back.”Thomas Vanek enjoyed his 48 games with the Detroit Red Wings in 2016-17 so much he wanted to sign with them last July but they didn’t have enough salary-cap space. When the opportunity presented itself this time, the 34-year-old winger zeroed in on a one-year deal and chose Detroit’s $3 million offer over a few other options.”I loved it there,” Vanek said. ”It was a good it. I really liked the whole culture of the organization and the guys were great. We tried to make it work last year. It didn’t work out Womens Evander Kane Jersey , so I’m happy it did this year.”No one says hockey players can’t go home, but there has to be mutual interest. It was simple for the Penguins, who lacked something without Cullen in their second-round loss to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals. Pittsburgh had tried to reacquire the 41-year-old center at the trade deadline.It was a bit more complicated for the Flyers, who traded van Riemsdyk to Toronto in 2012 in a one-for-one deal for bruising defenseman Luke Schenn. That was under a previous regime that believed the 6-foot-3, 217-pound left winger wasn’t tough enough, but GM Ron Hextall sees a player who checks the boxes for a playoff contender with a few holes.”We felt with the fit that we needed some size,” Hextall said. ”We needed goal-scoring. We need a left winger. This one just fit all around for us and I think James felt the same way.”The personality fit was there, too, because Flyers management knew van Riemsdyk, who is 29. Coming through Philadelphia’s system as the second overall pick in 2007 helped with Hextall being willing to make his biggest free agent splash.”We know the person – people inside this organization – (and) obviously that helps,” Hextall said.Van Riemsdyk did his homework by talking with captain Claude Giroux, winger Jakub Voracek and recent Flyers players before choosing to return to his first NHL organization. He also fondly remembered the Flyers’ run to the Cup Final in 2010.”Hopefully again we get a chance to do something like that in the future,” he said.—