Recap:
The Buffalo Sabres appeared as though they may finally treat the fans at the First Niagara Center to a well-played victory on Tuesday night, but a string of penalties and miscues once again derailed their effort as the Ottawa Senators out-shot the Sabres 44-29 in their 3-2 overtime win.
The Sabres got off to a slow start in the first period when just over a minute into the game Milan Michalek took advantage of their poor defensive play, scoring his league-leading 19th goal on the season as Ottawa jumped out to an early 1-0 lead.
But following a Cody McCormick fight shortly afterwards, the tide of the game began to shift in the Sabres favor and, after sustaining pressure on Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson, Jason Pominville fed a great pass into the slot and Paul Szczechura flipped a backhander over Anderson for his first NHL goal since March, 2010, and his first as a Sabre.
Just over a minute later, a good forecheck by the Sabres led to one of Derek Roy’s three takeaways and a few nifty passes later the puck eventually found the stick of Tyler Ennis who gave the Sabres a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.
It seemed as though the Sabres would carry the momentum generated by Ennis’ goal throughout the second period but after jumping out to a 9-2 advantage in shots mid-way through the period, the Sabres took multiple unnecessary penalties that allowed the Senators to record 16 shots throughout the frame.
It was more of the same for the Sabres in the third period as they registered just one shot on goal until almost mid-way through the stanza while the Senators carried a 23-3 shot-advantage following the Sabres’ 9-2 run way back in the second.
Needless to say, it didn’t take long before Ottawa was able to capitalize on Buffalo’s poor play as Peter Regin fired a slap shot through traffic, right past Ryan Miller, tying the game up at two goal a piece.
The Sabres failed to demonstrate much life after that aside from Christian Ehrhoff’s fight with Colin Greening after Greening ran into Miller behind the net as the clock ran out and the two teams headed to overtime.
The fight may have left some fans with a ray of hope heading into the overtime period, but not even a full minute into the extra period a careless mistake by Drew Stafford allowed for Jared Cowen to cruise wide-open in front of the net and fire an Erik Karlsson pass past Miller to end the game.
The loss is yet another eye sore in what has been a growing trend for a team that is now 3-5-3 in their last 11 games, including 1-1-2 during their current five-game home stand.
Coming into the game, the Senators had fallen on hard times as well, losing five of their last six games before defeating the Sabres.
Anderson made 27 saves on 29 shots in the win for the Senators while Miller stopped 41 of Ottawa’s 44 shots while taking the loss.
The Sabres will round out their five-game home stand on Friday as they’ll look to achieve a rare win division win against the visiting rival Maple Leafs at 7:30.
Notes/Thoughts:
- Heading into the game, the Sabres were 29-8-4 all-time when Tyler Ennis scored a point but the Sabres failed to take advantage of Ennis’ goal this time around. Ennis, in my opinion, was one of the few bright spots for the Sabres tonight. In fact, there’s no doubting the Sabres looked their best when Roy, Stafford and Ennis were on the ice. If the Sabres want to break out of their slump, it will be essential for this line to continue their solid play and generate as many scoring opportunities for the team as they did in this game.
- Paul Gaustad won 10 of his 15 faceoffs in this game and is ranked second in the league with a 58.1% success rate. It was refreshing to see Goose back in the lineup tonight as, once again, he was able to have success in the little areas most people fail to notice in games like these. As one of the best face off men in the league, I hope Goose can stay healthy as he’s a crucial piece to everything the Sabres try and accomplish.
- While Pominville found the score sheet for the 23rd game this season, I can’t help but bring up the fact I didn’t really notice too much of him or Vanek tonight. Obviously the play in which Szczechura scored his goal was a nice one, but after a so-so performance on Saturday, I get the feeling Vanek may be starting to cool off ever so slightly, which is exactly what the Sabres don’t need right now.
- During warm ups the news broke that instead of Marc-Andre Gragnani sitting to accommodate Mike Weber’s return to the lineup, Ruff decided to bench Matt Ellis for the game and keep Gragnani in to play as the team’s seventh defenseman/left wing. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know I haven’t been a huge fan of Grags lately. But despite my bashing, I honestly can’t say I disliked any part of his game tonight. He registered two shots and nearly 10 minutes of ice time and, low and behold, didn’t try and force any stupid passes to give up opposing breakaways. Contrary to what Sabres fans may want to believe, Grags actually leads all NHL rookies with a plus-11 rating and is second among rookie defensemen in points with nine on the year. I guess we can’t be so quick to bash him anymore.
- Let us talk about Ryan Miller next, shall we? Glad we didn’t trade him off to Anaheim for Parros and a bag of pucks yet? The dude was sensational tonight. I don’t care what you have to say. This game was his best since the playoffs last season, and at this point it sure appears that when Lucic knocked Miller to the ice a month ago, all he did was awaken the old Ryan Miller we’ve all come to know and love. A forty-one save effort in a game that was played almost entirely at his end of the ice the entire night. Again, the defense was incredibly sloppy, only this time, instead of taking the blame and letting in a few subject goals, Miller bailed his teammates out multiple times. Without Millsie, this game would’ve ended 5-2. I guarantee it.
- While the defense has played poorly, incredibly the Sabres’ PK unit has been able to maintain its stellar play this season. In this game, they turned away each of the Senators four power-play chances despite allowed 14 shots on goal. Again, Miller had a huge hand in that.
- Following the loss, WGR’s Jeremy White pointed out the Sabres have now squandered 21 points at home this season. That is an obscene amount and is absolutely inexcusable. Want an explanation to why the Sabres’ have struggled so much? Look no further than that stat. I have no idea why their play disappears as often as their leads at the F’N Center, and neither does Lindy, apparently.
- Guess who led the Sabres in shots tonight? Not Vanek. Not Pominville. Not Ennis. Zack Kassian totalled four to pace the team. I was thoroughly impressed by Kassian tonight as I have been throughout his time up with the Sabres. The kid has been everything this team needs in a sense that he’s not afraid to go to the front of the net, while also possessing the incredible ability to do just that whenever he wants. He’s a big body, who drops the gloves and plays into the corners and on top of that, I think he may have the best hands on the entire team right now. I’m very excited for this kid’s future here and I hope the Sabres keep him around even after they get healthy. Because boy, do they need him.
- My final point: During the press conference, Paul Hamilton made a comment regarding Stafford’s experience, essentially reiterating the fact that he’s no longer a rookie in this league and followed it up with the beckoning question: So why is he still blowing basic one-on-one coverage in crucial situations? This to me is a huge problem and is inexcusable for a guy like Stafford coming off an offseason in which he obtained a large raise. Even though I thought he looked alright with Ennis and Roy throughout the game, his error in overtime cost the Sabres the full two points.
Risers & Fallers:
UP: Zack Kassian, Tyler Ennis, Ryan Miller
DOWN: Ville Leino, Andrej Sekera, Drew Stafford
Big Save: Miller’s save on Greening’s breakaway in the second period.
Big Hit: Not at all a physical game, but this goes to the collision by Erik Karlsson and Milan Michalek in the second period. Michalek was actually injured on the play and did not return.
My Three Stars:
1st Star: Ryan Miller
2nd Star: Tyler Ennis
3rd Star: Zack Kassian
Injuries: None in this game, but the Sabres announced before the game they have placed Nathan Gerbe on IR and will be out at least seven more days.
You can follow Brandon on Twitter for even more insightful Sabres coverage@THWGoldSchlager.
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