Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
That was a helluva performance by Sabres goalie Anders Lindback at TD Garden. Buffalo headed into Beantown last night on the second game of a back-to-back against a team in the thick of a wild card battle and came out on top, 2-1 via the shootout (on St. Patrick's Day, no less.) In doing so, Buffalo avoided getting swept by Boston in the season series for the first time ever.
Lindback turned back 44 of 45 Boston shots en route to his first victory in the blue and gold since coming to Buffalo in the Jhonas Enroth trade to Dallas. All totaled, Lindback has stopped 227 of 243 shots for a stellar .934 sv%, but because he's on a last place Sabres squad that once again is scoring at an historically low pace, his record in Buffalo stands at 1-3-2.
It was only his third win of the season for him and first as a starter.
"You have to be able to give your team a chance to win every night as a starting goalie in this League and it’s not an easy thing,” Lindback said post game.
Especially in Buffalo this season. Although things are looking quite a bit different at this point as opposed to earlier in the year and during their team record 14 game losing streak.
Despite icing six players who've spent most of their careers in the AHL, including all four of their centers, this group of Sabres is playing a more disciplined game and seem to be trusting each other more than any other group. Perhaps it's out of necessity due to inferior talent. Perhaps it's because there's no pressure to win as a team. Or it may be each individual trying to impress in their role as they look to their NHL future either in Buffalo or somewhere else. But they maintained under relentless pressure.
As the Bruins controlled the play with a tough forecheck and countless seconds cycling in the offensive zone, the Sabres would hold their ground and eschew the Keystone Cops defense we've seen on numerous occasions over the past four years or so.
A prime example. Midway through the second period Sabres forward Phil Varone was whistled for a hooking call. Boston swarmed the Buffalo zone controlling play for most of that penalty and for about a minute thereafter. That would lead to a series of events that included five Bruins faceoff wins in the Buffalo zone but yield only two long shots on goal. The Sabres on the ice refused to chase, maintained their lanes and blocked five Bruins shots.
“We were talking in between periods, it was almost like the Thrilla in Manila,” head coach Ted Nolan said. “We just roped-a-doped them. I think they got tired going in our offensive zone for the whole period.
“They seemed to be in there for almost 19 minutes and Lindback played great. I thought we were in pretty good position defensively for a vast majority of the game. We had to be."
Boston's only goal came on a weird pinball carom off a skate and off the boards behind the Buffalo net 10 minutes into the first period as the Bruins' Loui Eriksson found himself with an easy tap-in. For the final 55 minutes, which included overtime, and through three shooters in the shootout, Boston would not light the lamp again.
"As much as we tried, we just couldn’t muster up a second goal," said B's head coach Claude Julien. "I think those are the parts that always worry you — as the game goes on, you’ve got full control, you’ve got a 1-0 lead, and you just can’t seem to get that second goal. Those are the dangerous situations to be in. When a team hangs around that long, eventually, they’re going to get a break somewhere, and they did."
Rasmus Ristolainen's point shot on the powerplay caromed off the skate of Boston's Matt Barkowski and past Niklas Svedberg to tie the score at one just 1:23 into the third period and Tyler Ennis scored the lone shootout goal as the Sabres stole the extra point from Boston.
Lindback has been superb in net since the trade and Nolan directed all credit for his play to goalie coach, Artus Irbe. “He's the one who saw something with this kid, worked with him, worked with him,” Nolan said. “We were thinking of going with Hackett tonight. He said, ‘Hey, let’s put [Lindback] back in’ so he has a real good feel for goaltenders and has done a great job.”
With 12 games left in the season and the only thing left to angle for is 30th place, Buffalo has a nice, long evaluation period where there's no pressure to win. And that includes Nolan and his staff. They will continue to have the opportunity to see how the young players perform in an NHL setting as they take on various roles throughout the game.
Although it might be too early, the evaluation on Linback should be pretty much finished. He has the size that Sabres GM Tim Murray covets in his goalies, he's shown great positioning, a quick glove and the ability to close the five hole fast. Lack of confidence has undermined his career, but working with Irbe has brought out his best traits as his numbers would attest.
Perhaps it's time to give Hackett his opportunity with a nice, long six-game look to take the team to the end of the month. Even if he only projects out as a backup, the Sabres may have found their goalie tandem for next season in Lindback and Hackett and they can focus their off season attention on other areas, like a top-six winger or...maybe...
Ryan O'Reilly?
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