Offtopic » Jets will take a night to celebrate

BUFFALO Adam Clendening Jersey Womens , N.Y. (AP) — An emotional tribute to Jason Pominville inspired the Buffalo Sabres to their biggest home win in a decade.After being honored on the ice in a pregame ceremony for playing his 1,000 NHL game earlier this week, Pominville had two goals and an assist to lead the Sabres in a 9-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.“I feel very fortunate to call this home and have the support of the fans that I have,” said Pominville, who has played 674 of his 1,001 career games during two stints with the Sabres. “From top to bottom, it was a great day.”Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula presented Pominville with a silver saber before the game and fans were given commemorative placards that read “Welcome to Pominville, Population: 1000.” Video tributes from current and former teammates, as well as Pominville’s wife and two young children, were played throughout the game.“Kind of fortunate we had a lead and I was able to look up and hear most of them,” Pominville said. “Just a lot of people that meant a lot to me throughout my career and a lot of great players and a lot of great memories with all of them. Yeah, it was pretty emotional at times.”Jeff Skinner also had two goals and and assist for the Sabres, who carried over the momentum from a two-goal third period in Thursday night’s 4-2 loss at Ottawa to snap a three-game losing streak.Conor Sheary, Casey Mittlestadt, Patrik Berglund and Zemgus Girgensons added a goal and an assist apiece, Kyle Okposo also scored, Jack Eichel had three assists and Linus Ullmark made 27 saves.Buffalo scored nine goals in a game for the first time since a 10-2 win over at Edmonton on Jan. 27, 2009. The last time they scored nine goals at home was a 10-1 win over Atlanta on Jan. 18, 2008.“Just the environment Devin Shore Jersey , with Pommer, the whole ceremony, I think it capped off a really good night, a special night for him and our team,” said Eichel, the Sabres’ captain.Pominville extended his point streak to seven games, his longest since 2014, when he played for the Minnesota Wild.Max McCormick and Thomas Chabot scored for Ottawa and Mike McKenna stopped 25 shots after replacing Craig Anderson in goal late in the first period.The Senators have lost five of their last six and have allowed 30 goals during that stretch.“I think collectively, we weren’t ready for the emotional level that they had,” Senators coach Guy Boucher said. “They came out as strong as we’ve seen all year and most probably because the players wanted to have a great night for Pominville.”The Sabres took a 2-0 lead in the first 6:28 of a three-goal third period.Okposo opened the scoring a little over five minutes in on rising slap shot from outside the right circle.Skinner knocked in the rebound off Eichel’s shot from the point less than two minutes later.Pominville made it 3-0 when he batted a bouncing puck after Skinner’s shot, chasing Anderson with 5:35 left in the first period.Buffalo scored four more goals in the first eight minutes of the second period. The first two came in a span of 13 seconds.Mittelstadt’s backhand pass set up Skinner in the slot for his team-leading ninth goal on a power play 3:55 into the period.Berglund then set up Girgensons from behind the net to put the Sabres up 5-0.After McCormick put the Senators on the board with his first goal of the season, Pominville netted his second of the game and eighth of the year on an assist from Eichel.Sheary scored Buffalo’s seventh goal on a breakaway 7:48 into the second period. Berglund added the eighth goal 5:41 into the third period and Sheary dropped the puck off to Mittelstadt for the final goal with 6:47 left to play.NOTES: Sabres rookie D Rasmus Dahlin, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft, was struck by a puck late in the second period and stayed in the dressing room for the third. Coach Phil Housley said Dahlin will be evaluated Sunday and is expected to make the trip for Sunday’s game against the New York Rangers. … Buffalo is in the midst of playing three of 12 games at home after opening the season with a four-game homestand. … Senators rookie F Brady Tkachuk skated Friday for the first time since injuring his leg on Oct. 15. … Anderson allowed three goals on 10 shots after stopping 46 of 48 shots in the Senators’ 4-2 win over the Sabres on Thursday. … Sabres F Sam Reinhart had two assists and now has eight points in Buffalo’s seven wins and none in seven losses.UP NEXTSenators: Host Tampa Bay on Sunday.Sabres: Start two-game road trip Sunday at New York Rangers. WASHINGTON (AP) — Devante Smith-Pelly got up from his seat.The Washington Capitals forward had heard the unmistakably racist taunts from fans from inside the penalty box. As a black hockey player, he knew exactly what they meant by yelling, “Basketball, basketball, basketball!”“It’s just ignorant people being ignorant,” Smith-Pelly said.That scene unfolded in Chicago in February Womens Esa Lindell Jersey , 60 years after Willie O’Ree broke the NHL’s color barrier and paved the way for more minorities to play the sport and reach its highest level. O’Ree is being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday for his pioneering career, and yet incidents like the one Smith-Pelly went through show how much more progress needs to be made, in a league that’s 97 percent white and beyond.“It’s come a long way, but there’s still a lot of things that still need to change,” Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “That just comes through minorities as a group working together to try to eliminate those things from this game.”Those things just keep happening.In 2011, Philadelphia forward Wayne Simmonds had a banana thrown at him during a preseason game in London, Ontario.In 2012, then-Washington forward Joel Ward was the subject of racist social media posts after he scored a game-winning playoff goal.In 2014, then-Montreal defenseman P.K. Subban was the subject of racist social media posts after he scored a game-winning playoff goal.In April, Detroit prospect Givani Smith was subjected to threats and racial taunts and messages after a junior game in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. His team had a police escort the next time they went to the rink.“(O’Ree) had to go through a lot, and the same thing has been happening now, which obviously means there’s still a long way to go,” Smith-Pelly said. “If you had pulled a quote from him back then and us now, they’re saying the same thing, so obviously there’s still a long way to go in hockey and in the world if we’re being serious.”Through his work as an NHL diversity ambassador over the past 20 years, O’Ree has tried to work toward more inclusion and better minority representation. He is eager to tell kids at YMCAs, Boys & Girls Clubs and schools that hockey is another sport they can play.USA Hockey and Hockey Canada don’t keep participation statistics by race, though there are fewer than two dozen black players currently on NHL rosters. The NHL celebrates “Hockey is for Everyone” month each season and quickly condemns racist behavior.“A lot of it’s basically on your parents and how people raise their kids Jamie Benn Jersey ,” said San Jose forward Evander Kane, who acknowledged being the subject of racist taunting as the only black player on his minor league teams in Vancouver. “You can have all the awareness that you want, but at the end of the day, it’s really up to the individual and how they act and how they want to treat other people.”O’Ree, 83, still remembers how he was treated in the ’50s as hockey’s Jackie Robinson. He did his best to drown out the noise by listening to his brother Richard.“I heard the jeers and some of the racial remarks, but it kind of went in one ear and out the other,” O’Ree said. “He told me, ‘Willie, names will never hurt you unless you let them.’ He said, ‘If they can’t accept you for the individual that you are, just forget about it and just go out and do what you do best and don’t worry about anything else.'”Nurse said black players still have to worry about racist jeers and remarks.“I had a lot growing up and my brother had the big one too last year,” said Dallas forward Gemel Smith, Givani’s brother. “How we were raised, nothing really bothers me. That stuff doesn’t really get to me and things like that. My dad always taught us just to try to close it out, block it out.”Like Smith-Pelly, Simmonds is quick to say racism isn’t an issue unique to hockey or sports in general. His solution is a zero tolerance policy, which is what happened to the four fans in Chicago who were thrown out and banned from all home games by the Blackhawks.“I think what could be done to keep these types of incidents from happening would probably be to ban those people who are doing those lewd acts,” Simmonds said. “I think if you set a strong example right from the start http://www.officialstarsproonline.com/authentic-adidas-jason-spezza-jersey , you won’t have too many people acting like clowns.”Commissioner Gary Bettman, who is going into the Hall of Fame with O’Ree as part of the class of 2018, considers it important to make clear to fans and players what’s expected and what’s not tolerated and said: “Even if it’s only one incident, it’s one too many.” Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said creating and cultivating an inclusive environment and building diversity are significant league priorities.There has been incremental progress. In the aftermath of Smith-Pelly’s incident, fans in Chicago raised $23,000 to donate to the Fort Dupont Ice Rink in Washington, helping hundreds of children.“When you see the reaction and the way that people rally around moments like that and try to make a positive out of it, I think that’s definitely a step in the right direction,” Nurse said.For some players like Seth Jones, the son of former NBA player Popeye Jones, hockey has been a safe place. The Blue Jackets defenseman said he has so far never been on the receiving end of race-based taunts or messages and said, “I was just like everybody else playing hockey, which is what everyone wants.”Most black players haven’t been that fortunate. And while Jones is optimistic that people can change, Smith-Pelly wasn’t sure exactly how that will happen.“It’s tough,” he said. “I don’t really know a plan to stop it. That’s how people are.”