Kaleta's physical play pushing Sabres
NHL
by MATT KRUEGER Reporter

Fourth-line winger Patrick Kaleta has carved out a place for himself with the Buffalo Sabres with his physical play and ability to draw opponents into penalties.

Patrick Kaleta skated in hard and leveled a hit, just as he does during every shift on the ice, then found Pittsburgh's Colby Armstrong in his face, yelling something unsuitable for print.

The 21-year-old Angola native yelled back, again something rather less than cordial, and both players looked like they were going to throw down. In fact, Armstrong even dropped his gloves, waiting for Kaleta to skate to mid ice and join him in a little fisticuffs action.

But that's when Buffalo's young winger just smiled. He got a warning from the referee, but Armstrong got a two-minute trip to the penalty box for unsportsmanlike behavior.

It's just one of the talents hometown boy Kaleta brings to the Sabres. He can draw opponents into taking penalties and set up Buffalo for a power play. He did it twice in Sunday's 4-1 loss to Pittsburgh. The second time, with Armstrong stewing in the box, Buffalo scored on a rebound goal by Thomas Vanek.

"It's part of my job to go out there and stir it up a little bit," said Kaleta, who has been a great midseason addition for the Sabres. "If I can get our power play out there, it's what I'm going to try to do. We got one (goal), but I'd rather have the win."

Kaleta, Buffalo's sixth-round draft pick in 2004, only has one goal in 19 games with the team this year, but his job isn't to light the lamp. That's for guys like Vanek, Derek Roy and Jason Pominville. No, Kaleta's job description says he needs to be physical. He needs to shake up opponents with monstrous checks. And that's what he's been doing.

Kaleta has harassed opponents with hard checks, some trash talk and a physically intimidating game. At 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, he's far from the biggest guy on the ice, but his bulldog tactics make him a force.

"He definitely brings a dimension to the team that we didn't have in the past," Pominville said. "He's such a physical threat out there. We know what to expect every night out of him. He's a physical guy, he plays the body really well, and he gets the Carubba Collision almost every night. He's been doing a job, and its fun to see him out there."

"He provides a great amount of energy," added Roy. "He goes out and plays hard every shift. He finishes checks. I think he gets the other team on its heels a little bit when we shoot the puck in. They're pretty scared of him barreling down and finishing them. Obviously, he's drawing a lot of penalties because of his physical play, and that's what we need from him."

While Kaleta has been good at dolling out the penalty minutes, he hasn't spent much time in the box himself. In 19 games, he's accrued only four penalty minutes. That's the lowest on the team of any forward or defenseman who has played more than 10 games. Heck, goalie Ryan Miller has four penalty minutes this year.

Kaleta had 21 penalty minutes in seven games with the Sabres last year and had 133 in 58 games with the Rochester Amerks. If he can stay out of the box and keep sending opponents into it, he's going to make his teammates even more happy to have him.

"He brings energy to the team," Pominville said. "He gave us an opportunity to go on the power play. There have been quite a few he's done like that. He lays out a guy and other guys step in to protect their teammate. He creates penalties that way. He's definitely a guy you want on your side, and he's been a great addition to our team."

There's a good chance Kaleta will get sent back down to Rochester when Buffalo sees Drew Stafford and Max Afinogenov return from injuries. But he's making a case to the coaching staff to keep him around.

"I'm just taking it day by day, coming in and working as hard as I can every day," Kaleta said. "We'll see what happens."