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Mitch's Sports: Sabres Go From Worst To First; MLB Changes Donation Policy After Hyde-Smith Debacle

In the NHL, the Montreal Canadiens welcomed their best defenseman back to the blue line and peppered the Carolina Hurricanes with 49 shots on goal at the Bell Centre last night.

The only problem was that 'Canes goaltender Curtis McElhinney turned away 48 of those shots and Carolina went on to beat the Habs 2-1, handing Montreal its fifth loss in a row.

Phillip Danault scored the only goal for the Canadiens and Carey Price made 20 saves in net, but McElhinney was just too solid at the other end for Carolina on a night when Shea Weber returned to Montreal's line up. The all-star defenseman played for the first time since December of last year when he was sidelined for two surgeries to repair a tendon in his foot, and to spell an aggravated knee.

Weber contributed right away in his return, assisting on Danault's goal and logging more than 24 minutes of ice time. Weber and the rest of the Canadiens will get plenty of rest before their next contest, also at home, against the NY Rangers Saturday night.

Meanwhile, don't look now, but while being lost in the hockey wilderness for the last several seasons, the Buffalo Sabres are now the best team in the league, and have set a new NHL record in the process.

Jeff Skinner scored in overtime last night to cap off a 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks, Buffalo's tenth win in a row, which gives the Sabres 36 points on the season and the league's best record. Buffalo finished dead last in the league just last year and no team has gone from worst to first through 25 games played in the following season to top the league as the Sabres now have.

Buffalonians have been waiting a long time for the team's draft picks, including former Boston University star Jack Eichel, to turn things around and it appears now that they have.

The Saint Michael's men's hockey team suffered a 4-0 road loss to Tufts, falling to 1-7-1 on the season.

In women's college hoops, a big night for Plattsburgh State Senior Bella DePasquale, who knocked down seven three-pointers in Plattsburgh's  77-59 win over Saint Lawrence Tuesday night. DePasquale finished with 22 points on the night and also took down six rebounds.

Finally, Major League Baseball will now change its protocols on lobbyists making donations to political campaigns.

On Sunday Major League Baseball asked for a refund of five thousand dollars it donated to Cyndi Hyde-Smith via one of the league's lobbyists. Hyde-Smith is the Mississippi Republican who defeated Democrat Mike Espy in Tuesday's Senate runoff election after telling supporters that she'd be "on the front row" if invited to a public hanging.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred now says the league will no longer give autonomy to its lobbyists, with future donations needing approval from the New York office. Manfred also said he regretted that the league did not ask for the five thousand dollar donation, the maximum allowed by law, to be returned sooner. The donation was made well after Hyde-Smith's comments on public hangings were made public. Other groups that donated to her campaign asked for their money to be returned as well but only after a public outcry.

One of the principal owners of the San Francisco Giants, meanwhile, also contributed money to Hyde-Smith's campaign, but has not asked for that donation to be returned. And silly me, I thought only NFL owners were disdainful of their own players and fans.

A graduate of NYU with a Master's Degree in journalism, Mitch has more than 20 years experience in radio news. He got his start as news director at NYU's college station, and moved on to a news director (and part-time DJ position) for commercial radio station WMVY on Martha's Vineyard. But public radio was where Mitch wanted to be and he eventually moved on to Boston where he worked for six years in a number of different capacities at member station WBUR...as a Senior Producer, Editor, and fill-in co-host of the nationally distributed Here and Now. Mitch has been a guest host of the national NPR sports program "Only A Game". He's also worked as an editor and producer for international news coverage with Monitor Radio in Boston.
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