The Sabres rode a three-game winning streak into Ottawa and hit Canada's Capital after smoking Toronto 5-2. This would be great, right? Except for one thing. Buffalo was already 1-2 against the Senators and when they left Ottawa they finished the season 1-3 against a division foe who will end up near the bottom of the conference.
DOH!!!
Buffalo's win last night coupled with the Leafs embarrassing 6-3 loss at home against the Carolina Hurricanes has the Sabres eight points back with two games in hand. They'll make up one of those games this afternoon as Buffalo hosts the Winnipeg Jets in their final game before tomorrow's trade deadline.
Although they've left a lot of points on the table post All-Star break (6-5-1 with two losses to Ottawa and another to a beatable Montreal Canadiens club at home,) the Leafs are in the same boat as they're 7-6-1 since the break and may have hit an all-time low against the 'Canes. Last night Carolina lost both of their goalies and a 42-yr. old Scotiabank Zamboni driver was called into emergency service to man the Hurricanes' crease.
David Ayres played small-time hockey and was a practice goalie for the Leafs and Toronto Marlies, their AHL affiliate. He got the call with 6:21 left in the second period and allowed two goals on his first two shots against then stopped the next eight en route to the victory and the game's first star. Ayres is the oldest goalie ever to win his National Hockey League debut and the miracle he pulled off coincidently occurred on the 40th anniversary of Team USA's Miracle on Ice against the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics.
Are there any miracles for the Sabres this season. With what just transpired on the "Miracle" anniversary, who knows? But we do know this much--they've made it very difficult on themselves with those losses to beatable teams.
February 16
Toronto Maple Leafs-2 Buffalo-5
Buffalo Sabres head coach Ralph Krueger was pretty happy to have a full complement of players heading into the Toronto game. Rookie Victor Olofsson and veteran Kyle Okposo had both returned to the lineup on Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets (on 2000's night) with the former contributing two goals including the game-winner in overtime. Marcus Johansson had missed the Columbus game (illness) but was back on the ice. "From Sweden (the 2019 Global Series games Nov.8-9) until now it's the first time we're actually looking at the lineup feeling comfortable with four lines that can play against anybody," said Krueger, "so it's a lot easier to manage rhythm versus matchups."
After a sluggish start the Sabres found that rhythm. They outshot Toronto 16-6 in the first period with a 68.8% Corsi-for (30-14) but were up against a wall in Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen who did not allow a shot get through him. Buffalo finally broke through 1:32 into the second period when Johan Larsson had a right-place, right-time moment depositing a Colin Miller shot from the point that caromed off the back wall to him in the crease to put the Sabres up 1-0. Conor Sheary deflected a Miller shot from the point to make it 2-0 before Toronto would cut the lead less than two minutes later.
The third period was wild. Toronto tied it at two 2:11 into the period and with momentum firmly in their favor, Leafs defenseman Jake Muzzin took a tripping call and they collapsed. Sabres captain Jack Eichel was left way too open far too long and snapped one past Andersen to put Buffalo up 3-2. Okposo fed off that energy as he barreled up the wall and tapped the puck to himself in the slot before depositing a wrister top-shelf :49 seconds later for his 500th career NHL point. The Sabres cranked up the heat with Rasmus Ristolainen creating a turnover on the half-wall. He took the puck to the crease and with focus fully on him made a sweet move before sending a pass to Jimmy Vesey for an easy goal-line tap-in. Three goals in 1:31 for Buffalo to seal the 5-2 win.
It should be noted that the Sabres came into the game with two days off while the Leafs were on the second game of a back-to-back. It should also be noted that Buffalo had three powerplays while the Leafs only one came with just over three minutes to play in the third period and the game decided. That said, in this game the Sabres looked like the team that started the season 8-1-1, and that includes goalie Carter Hutton.
Hutton's struggles from November to earlier this month are well documented but he has found his stride and is playing with supreme confidence. In all he faced only 22 Leafs' shots but he stopped a breakaway in the first period and had a number of big saves with the game tied 2-2. It's something that gets lost in his .909 save percentage on the night. As Hutton made big saves, his team became more confident and they kept their foot on the gas which led to that barrage of goals in a short span.
With the win the Sabres jumped the Montreal Canadiens into fifth place in the Atlantic Division and are eight points behind the Leafs with a game in hand. They also took the season series from Toronto with a 2-1-1 record.
February 18
Buffalo--4 Ottawa Senators--7
What was that all about? Two goals by defenseman Brandon Montour in the first half of the first period and the Sabres ready to break it open as Marcus Johansson was hauled down on a clear breakaway. Penalty shot, right? Nope. Neither Brandon Blandina nor counterpart Peter MacDougall, two of the younger referees in the league experience-wise, felt there was cause for a penalty shot and the Sabres went on the powerplay.
Nothing happened and with :03 seconds remaining in Buffalo's powerplay, Ottawa netted a shortie to completely turn the tide of the game. Just over a minute later they tied the score and nine seconds after that they took the lead. The Senators would make it a two goal lead as they finished an outburst that featured four goals in only 3:29 to head into the first intermission with the 4-2 lead. This is the type of collapse we've seen often recently. In fact we've seen this often dating back to the Darcy Regier "Core" years post-Chris Drury/Daniel Briere. Sabres teams from the 2007/08 season onward, save for the tank years when they were trying to lose, have had the similar tendencies--when the pressure is ramped up, they falter.
Buffalo struck early in the second period but Ottawa increased their lead to two again. The Sabres answered to cut the deficit to one and headed into the second intermission down 5-4. But the Senators would withstand a strong Buffalo push to tie the score and got their two-goal lead back again with another powerplay goal. In a 5-2 win at Buffalo on January 28, Ottawa went into the game with the worst powerplay in the NHL and went 3/4 against the Sabres. They entered Tuesday's game with the second-worst powerplay in the league and went 2/2.
After taking a two-goal lead in the first period it looked as if the Sabres thought they had this one in the bag. In no way, shape or form should they ever feel that way against any team. That was one of their problems and we should tack on the penalty kill and goaltending as failing them also. Carter Hutton had an excellent stretch as of late after finally getting the monkey off of his back with a 2-1 overtime win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on February 1, his first win since October 22. He was sketchy at best against the Senators as he wasn't able to control rebounds as well as he had been and pucks were dropping into prime scoring areas. Allowing six goals in a game isn't all on the goaltender, especially when he faces 40 shots on goal, but rebound control is paramount to minimizing the effects of an offensive onslaught from the opposition.
Of note, winger Victor Olofsson continues to shine. He scored another goal giving him three (two on the powerplay, on in overtime) in three games since returning. He and Jack Eichel are quite the pair as Eichel creates space and Olofsson finds it. The duo combined for nine shots on goal against Ottawa while linemate Sam Reinhart was held to just one. Since Olofsson's return to the lineup Reinhart has registered a total of two shots on goal and is a minus-3.
Winger Jeff Skinner's goal-less drought continued. The 27 yr. old winger who was re-signed to an 8yr./$72 million contract in the off season hasn't scored since December 2, a span of 22 games that surrounded a nine-game stint in the injured list backed up against the Sabres bye-week and All-Star Break. Skinner was (Dec. 29- January 27.) He skated a hair under 13 minutes at even strength against the Sens and registered two shots on goal.
The Sabres came into the Ottawa game eight points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for third in the Atlantic Division and had a golden opportunity to gain two points as the Leafs got smoked by the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2. Buffalo also entered the game on a three-game winning streak for the fifth time this season and for the fifth time they failed to make it four in a row. They have been outscored 25-12 in those fourth games and were blown out in three of them (5-2, 6-2, 7-4.)
Kyle Okposo scored for the second game in a row. Rasmus Ristolainen (25:49) led the Sabres in time-on-ice with Montour (21:23) being second amongst defensemen. That duo was Buffalo's top pair and finished the night with a combined four points (2+1 for Montour, 1 assist for Ristolainen) and were a combined +3 for the Sabres. Johan Larsson was the only other Buffalo player with a plus rating (+1.)
Buffalo--5 Pittsburgh Penguins--2
How do you shake off a pathetic effort against the Ottawa Senators? Get off to a fast start. Easier said than done when you visit Pittsburgh as evidenced by Buffalo's 2-6-2 record in their last 10 against the Penguins on the road. However, the Sabres did get off to a fast start as the Johan Larsson line took advantage of a defensive breakdown by Pittsburgh. Kyle Okposo picked off a clear behind the Pens net and fed Zemgus Girgensons who was left all alone in front. He deposited the puck for his 11th goal of the season and Buffalo found themselves up 1-0 only :14 seconds into the game.
They wouldn't stop there as Sam Reinhart picked off a Kris Letang pass at the Pittsburgh blueline and sent a shot top shelf to put them up 2-0. Captain Jack Eichel made it 3-0 at the 10:51 mark with a powerplay goal as the Penguins, for some reason, left him all alone on the left side and we mean all alone as the entire PK unit was puck watching on the other side of the rink. With plenty of time and plenty of space, Eichel picked his spot and ripped a wrister short-side. The three-goal outburst caused Pittsburgh to immediately call a timeout to right the ship, which they held Buffalo shot-less the rest of the period.
The Sabres had an opportunity in the second period to lengthen their lead but failed miserably on the powerplay (outshot 1-0 by Pittsburgh) and :46 seconds after the Pittsburgh penalty ended, Evgeni Malkin broke the ice for the Penguins to cut the lead to 3-1. Henri Jokiharju failed to clear the zone twice and Jake McCabe fell for a deke as Malkin cut to the slot and scored far-side.
You'd have thought Pittsburgh would learn from their previous mistake on the powerplay when they left Eichel all alone for a walk-in wrister. Well, they did. Kind of. Instead of the entire team being on the opposite half of the rink when Eichel got the puck in the circle their diamond-shape PK still gave him way too much time as he took a couple strides to the top of the circle and unleashed his devastating wrister short-side once again. Dear Pens, thanks for not getting it.
It was Eichel's 35th goal of the season and it put Buffalo up 5-1 with 7:43 left in the third period. The assists on the play went to defensemen Rasmus Dahlin, his 33rd on the year and Rasmus Ristolainen, who collected his 28th assist on the season.
And, lest we forget, Buffalo's fourth goal was scored by...
Jeff Skinner.
That score was a huge weight off of Skinner's shoulders as he hadn't scored since December 2nd ( a span of 23 games) and it also gave the Sabres a little breathing room as they regained their three-goal advantage. Props to winger Marcus Johansson who fed a perfect pass from the wall just inside of the Pens blueline to Skinner who was streaking towards the net. Skinner put a juke on backchecking forward Sam Lafferty and left the rookie banging his stick off of the boards behind the Penguins net as he tipped Johansson's feed five-hole
Carter Hutton got the win as he stopped 41 of 43 Penguins shots to improve his record to since getting off the schneid with an overtime win over Columbus on February 1. Hutton went winless from October 22 to that game and is 6-2-0 this month. His goals-against average is rather hefty at 3.06 and his .904 save-percentage isn't anything to speak of, but he's winning.
Of note: The Penguins came into the season with an 18-game point-streak against Buffalo but have lost both games to the Sabres so far with both of those losses coming on home ice.
Although he's no Bushkorn, Steve Dangle's reaction to the Leafs losing to a Zamboni driver:
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