You couldn't have ended 2019 on a worse note. The Buffalo Sabres rang out the old with a very disappointing loss to the surging Tampa Bay Lighting by the score of 6-4. Tampa scored an empty-netter for the final which capped off a five goal run that erased a 4-1 Buffalo lead.
The set-up to the Tampa game had some weird circumstances as the Sabres didn't forget what Nikita Kucherov and Eric Cernak did to their players in previous meetings. While over in Stockholm, Sweden for the 2019 Global Series, Kucherov submarined an unsuspecting Vladimir Sobotka and sent him to injured reserve. He probably won't be back this season. Just over two weeks later, a high elbow from Cernak connected with Rasmus Dahlin's head resulting in a concussion for the 19 yr. old defenseman. Neither hit was penalize and neither was taken care of on the ice by the Sabres. The Kucherov hit wasn't looked at by the NHL Department of Player Safety while Cernak received a two-game suspension for an illegal hit to the head on Dahlin.
Heading into their final meeting of the season, not only did Tampa defeat Buffalo in all three of the previous meetings, they were also up in the intimidation factor 2-0.
After the November 25 loss where Dahlin was injured, I'd written, "Anyone who thinks some celluloid hero-type tough guy is gonna descend from the clouds and save the 'damsel in distress' that is the Buffalo Sabres right now is sadly mistaken. It ain't gonna happen."
Well, turns out I was wrong. Kinda. Buffalo GM Jason Botterill signed Rochester Americans forward and resident tough-guy Dalton Smith to an NHL contract just prior to their final meeting with Tampa Bay and expectations were that he'd be going after someone on the Lightning. Smith is really nowhere near an NHL'er but he'd been doing some great things in Rochester and the Amerks were winning much more with him in the lineup than without. Why? We're not really sure, but they were.
So into the game Smith and the Sabres went. Smith had four shifts totaling 1:26 of ice-time. He did not fight anyone as the only battle that occured was between Jake McCabe and the Bolt's Mikhail Sergachev in a bout that didn't favor McCabe. Smith was on the ice when Buffalo took a 2-0 lead and finished with a +1 rating. Tampa would make the score 2-1 before Jimmy Vesey put the Sabres up by two goals again and Jack Eichel made it 4-1 on an absolute beauty of a short-handed goal. After that it was all Tampa as they scored five unanswered to embarrass the Sabres at home, sweep the season series and leave Buffalo with a foul taste in their mouths to finish off 2019.
"Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?"
You betcha. The Sabres said goodbye to Tampa Bay for the season and headed into 2020 on a four-game losing streak having lost six of their last seven and not only that, they had some dissent to deal with as defenseman Zach Bogosian and forward Evan Rodrigues both reportedly asked to be traded.
Edmonton Oilers-2 Buffalo-3 (OT)
What better way to kick off the new year with Eichel facing off against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. This was the second of two meetings between the two clubs this seasons with the Sabres winning the first one in Edmonton 3-2 in overtime on Colin Miller's game-winner. Buffalo came into their January 2 meeting with a 5-4-1 record in their last 10 games at home versus the Oilers and added to the win column while allowing only a secondary assist to the NHL's leading scorers in McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Sam Reinhart scored the game-tying goal 3:53 into the third period and Eichel scored the game-winner on a penalty shot in overtime, the first time in franchise history the Sabres won a game in overtime on a penalty shot. With his goal in that game and assist in the other, Eichel leads McDavid in head-to-head production over the eight games they've suited up against each other. The tally:
Eichel: 4 goals, 5 assists
McDavid: 3 goals, 3 assists
For as much as the Eichel/ McDavid matchup was intriguing and for as great as it was that the Sabres started out the new year on the right foot by breaking four-game losing streak, there was off-the-ice news that moderately shook Sabreland. Prior to the Edmonton game Botterill finally traded one of his eight roster defenseman for forward help. In a two-stage deal the GM sent defenseman Marco Scandella to the Montreal Canadiens for a 4th round pick then sent that pick to the Calgary Flames for winger Michael Frolik.
Florida Panthers-2 Buffalo-3
The newly acquired Frolik would not be playing against the Panthers and there was more bad news on the injury front as winger Victor Olofsson suffered a lower-body injury against the Oilers and was lost for 5-6 weeks. At the time of the injury Olofsson was leading all rookies with 16 goals and 35 points while looking like a possible Calder Trophy favorite. Bad news for him and bad news for the Sabres as they went in to a divisional game missing two top-two wingers in Olofsson and Jeff Skinner.
Head coach Ralph Krueger went to the 11/7 well again dressing 11 forwards in a group that featured two top-line players in Eichel and Sam Reinhart, a top-six/nine forward in Marcus Johansson and eight forwards more suited to bottom-six duty, including recent call-up Scott Wilson. Rookie Rasmus Asplund acquitted himself well on the top line and Buffalo got goals from defenseman Henri Jokiharju, Conor Sheary and Reinhart (on the powerplay which snapped an 0-16 slump over the prior four games) to take a 3-0 lead while chasing Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. But the Cats made a game of it with two third period goals, the second of which put a scare into the KeyBank Center crowd as it was scored with 1:10 remaining.
Buffalo-1 St. Louis Blues-5
The Sabres are back in action after four days between games and got themselves some fresh blood in the lineup as Frolik finally got his work visa in order. Buffalo will aslo have Amerks defenseman Lawrence Pilut in the lineup as he got the call to Buffalo with Scandella being traded and defenseman Jake McCabe having been sidelined by an upper-body injury. Pilut was having a great season in Rochester with his five goals, 21 points and plus-9 rating earning him AHL All-Star honors.
Buffalo came out foggy after not having played a game since Saturday afternoon and found themselves down 2-0 after one period. And they were lucky it was only 2-0. Eichel scored on a beautiful goal where he circled the Blues net and rifled one home to make it 2-1 but that was it for the Sabres. They seemed to have some jump in and around Eichel's goal but against the defending Stanley Cup Champions every player, except for the captain, looked as if they were playing at least a notch below where they should, meaning Buffalo was facing the Champs on the road with one true top-line player (Eichel,) one top-six player (Reinhart,) a couple of third liners, many fourth liners and a group of players led by Zemgus Girgensons who looked like they didn't even belong on NHL ice that night.
Take this one. Crumble it up. Throw it in the trash and get ready for a Saturday matinee at home against the Vancouver Canucks.
Vancouver Canucks-6 Buffalo-3
It happened at the 6:24-mark of the third period. The Sabres had just tied the score on Girgensons' seventh goal of the season some three minutes earlier and were really putting the pressure on Vancouver. The tide turned and the Canucks hemmed Buffalo in their own zone until there was breakdown in the Sabres defense. A Keystone Cops moment had Henri Jokiharju sprawling to Carter Hutton's left to try and block a shot with his d-partner Lawrence Pilut going hard the same way. There was a huge hole in the slot for the 'Nucks Brock Boeser to fire one home into a gaping net as Hutton was way overcommitted to his left.
From there the bottom fell out as Buffalo forgot how to play hockey.
No need to get into the specifics because this was a Sabres implosion. Just over a minute later Jake Virtanen would make it 5-3 and the Sabres would allow an empty-netter, the fifth time in their last six losses they've allowed one, for the 6-3 final. The loss went to Hutton who has not won a game since October 22nd and in that span is 0-7-4 with a 4.27 goals-against average and a .866 save-percentage having allowed five or more goals in five of his last six starts. The loss wasn't completely on him, but he certainly didn't do anything to help his cause.
Of note, as of this writing (1-12-2020) goalie prospect Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen got the call from Cincinnati of the ECHL to Rochester where the Amerks are having problems of their own. Andrew Hammond is in a tail-spin having lost his last six starts allowing 21 goals on 158 shots (.867 sv%) while Jonas Johansson is 0-1-1 in his last two starts after a nine-game winning streak. Rochester is in a slump having lost four in a row giving up 19 goals in those four games.
Luukkonen comes to Rochester sporting a rather robust 12-5-3 record with a 2.12 GAA, .917 sv% and three shutouts.
Buffalo-5 Detroit Red Wings-1
The last time the Sabres allowed only one goal in a game was back on December 2 when they trounced a reeling New Jersey Devils team 7-1. In the 17 games between that one and their 5-1 win last night Buffalo has allowed two goals five times, all of them wins. When they allow three goals or more, the Sabres are 1-9-2.
Buffalo scored five goals in a game for the first time since December 10 in a 5-2 win vs. the St. Louis Blues and it was even better because all of their goals last night came from secondary scoring. Evan Rodrigues, who was goal-less this season and was rumored to have asked for a trade, scored Buffalo's first two goals and may have moved his trade value up from 2035 future considerations to 2025 future considerations in the process.
Another player who asked to be traded, defenseman Zach Bogosian, also scored his first goal of the season on a pretty nifty pinch-in and drive to the net, to which he responded post-game, "I feel like I’ve showed it the last 12 years. I feel good. It’s definitely nice to get rewarded tonight. Just try to build off that." Well, maybe. Bogosian missed 155 games over the past four-plus seasons in Buffalo and if he wasn't injured, he was recovering from such which added on dozens more as he was either getting up to game speed or playing injured. He also upped his trade value possibly to a future considerations with Buffalo retaining 1/2 of his salary to future considerations with Buffalo retaining $1.25 million of his $5.145 million cap-hit.
Let's keep in mind that the Sabres played the Red Wings, a team that's barreling towards the bottom of the league and who's -75 goal differential through 46 games is on pace (-133) to obliterate Buffalo's -113 in their infamous 2014-15 McEichel tank season.
Props to Girgensons who scored his eighth goal of the season on a short-handed breakaway. Girgensons, who played on the Sabres top line with Eichel and Reinhart last night, moved into sole possession of fifth place on the Sabres goal-scoring ladder this season and is only three goals behind Jeff Skinner, who is presently injured. Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen scored his fifth goal of the season on the powerplay. The big, "Angry Finn" has a new home in front of the net on the PP (while Skinner and Victor Olofsson are out) and is difficult for the opposition to move. It was his second powerplay goal from that spot this season.
All-in-all it's two points for the Sabres as they try to keep their playoff hopes alive with two of their top-six forwards on IR. So what if it's Detroit? Points are points.
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