Sharks 5 Sabres 2:Opportunistic Sharks Devour Sabres

by David Oleksy on Jan 24, 2010 10:58 AM EST in Game Recaps Comment 16 comments

It's tough to find the right words to describe the Sabres loss to the Sharks. I can't say the Sharks were the better team but they won 5-2. Did the Sabres play bad enough to deserve a 5-2 loss? I have a hard time saying they did.

Every once in awhile you run into a hot goalie and last night the Sabres did just that. The Sabres pressured the Sharks to the amount of 40 shots but Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabakov made difficult save after difficult save. We have talked about the Sabres lack of finish this season but this game had more to do with a hot goalie than it did the Sabres lack of finish.

It was the Sabres that scored the all important first goal of the game. Jason Pominville made a nice cross pass to Tim Connolly who scored his 13th goal of the season and extended his point streak to 15 games. The first period was owned by the Sabres who outshot the Sharks 14-5 but the only goal was by Connolly and the Sharks were still in the game at 1-0.

How many times have we heard the saying "a one goal lead is never safe"? That became reality early in the second after Steve Montador gave the puck away in the Sabres zone and Joe Pavelski buried his opportunity for his first goal of the game. The Sharks added to the lead on a goal by Sabre-killer Dany Heatley. It is impossible to keep the Sharks top line off the board for an entire game and they proved why on this goal. Heatley was parked in front of Miller and Thorton fed him a perfect pass.

The Sabres began the third period trailing by a goal but they had a man advantage. They sensed an opportunity to get back in the game and Jason Pominville scored his 14th of the season just 18 seconds into the period. With the score tied in the third period the teams traded chances but Pavelski scored his second goal after the Sabres were pinned in their own zone for an entire shift and Jed Ortmeyer took advantage of another Montador giveaway. The Sabres pulled their goalie in the final minutes but Scott Nichol took the puck away from Toni Lydman and fed a pass to Ortmeyer who scored his second of the game.

Corsi Ratings | Event Summary | Fear The Fin

Final Thoughts

It's hard to fault the Sabres effort in this game. They were the better team for most of the game but the Sharks used good goaltending and an opportunistic offense to beat the Sabres. They took advantage of every Sabres mistake and turned it into a goal.
As an American, I am hoping that Joe Pavelski will play that well in the Olympics. He looked like a confident player that can bury his chances.
Steve Montador needs to watch the game Monday from up in the press box. I know he has been better than any of us expected this season but his mistakes on Saturday night were inexcusable. Andrej Sekera was playing well before he was sent to the press box and he needs to get back on the ice.
I thought the power play looked a lot better in this game. They scored a goal but more importantly they had 10 shots on four powerplays.

Roll Call

Roll Call: bflo, manic hispanic, FloridaBuffalo, higs59569, David Oleksy, krytime, Americanario, JSCoope, Afino, Rafal Ladysz, Ubiquitous, sabre74kkn, TEMSON, Zbeast39
Total Users: 14
Total Posts: 168
Total Threads: 1

Name	# of Posts
bflo	39
David Oleksy	23
Rafal Ladysz	19
Afino	17
Ubiquitous	15
Americanario	14
krytime	13
TEMSON	10
JSCoope	8
Zbeast39	4
sabre74kkn	3
FloridaBuffalo	1
higs59569	1
manic hispanic	1

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Comments

I went to bed after the 1st period. Did Miller play poorly or were they just good chances?

by JSCoope on Jan 24, 2010 12:11 PM EST reply actions

I thought Miller had an off-night for his standards, only made 19 stops and allowed four goals. This is what happens and there’s nothing we can do about it. As frustrating as a loss always is, I really thought this game – in spite of it being a loss – showed the type of character and ability this team has dominating the arguably best team in the NHL for most of the time and it gets even more impressive, when you consider it was our sixth of seven road games in a row.

There's the right way, the wrong way, the army way and the Buffalo Bills way

by BillsfanfromDenmark on Jan 24, 2010 12:54 PM EST up reply actions

Miller had an off night. But we didnt capatalize on any chances. Hit posts and missed half empy nets. Plus bad turnovers. Need points out of this vancouver game.

"Be a wuss at home! Be a man on Rumblings!" - Kurupt

by bflo on Jan 24, 2010 1:05 PM EST via mobile reply actions

good morning all (or afternoon, probably).
tomorrow night should be a fun game. beware the green men, and visit nucks misconduct.

Official Ambassador for Nucks Misconduct.
"If Chuck Norris was up against 7 Rangers, he'd call Ryan Kesler."
GO CANUCKS GO!

by missy on Jan 24, 2010 1:41 PM EST reply actions

Well, obviously you’re going to be biased, and by no means am I trivialing the Sabres’ effort in the 1st period, but to say you outplayed San Jose for “most of the game” is a fallacy. The only stat in which that’s undeniably true is shots on goal. But, shots on goal and quality scoring chances aren’t the same, and when a netminder plays as well as Nabokov did, it has a way of equalizing the SOG tallies. In any case, I was impressed by Miller and how well the teams matched up, and I’m definitely excited for another good game in a few weeks.

by OtherKid on Jan 24, 2010 1:55 PM EST via mobile reply actions

I respectfully disagree

The Sabres had more scoring chances than the Sharks in all three periods. Nabakov was better than Miller last night, period. End of story. There is no sense in getting into a flame war because we will both have our own opinion. You have to look no further than Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda who praised the Sabres all night and admitted that Nabakov was the story of the game.

D.O.
www.diebytheblade.com - An SB nation destination for Sabres fans everywhere

by David Oleksy on Jan 24, 2010 2:24 PM EST up reply actions

Indeed, there will be differences of opinion. Puck Daddy selected Pavelski as one of last night’s three stars, while Nabokov received an honorable mention.

by OtherKid on Jan 24, 2010 2:48 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

I think you both have a point.

SOG and probably puck possesion in the opponent’s zone ultimately favored the Sabres. BUT – the Sharks top 2 lines converted dominating (and I mean dominating) shifts into goals.

Myself, I’d prefer my team’s lines dominate 1 out of every 3 shifts so long as they convert.

The Sabres have a pretty good team. They stayed on the ice with the best team in the league in their arena. If a 2-2-2 road trip is the worst it gets all season, I and probably every Sabres fan will gladly take it.

But that’s a far cry from saying they were the best team on the ice last night. They weren’t. Looking forward to us “returning the favor” in 3 weeks!

by dfderie on Jan 24, 2010 4:25 PM EST up reply actions

vancouver's been solid at home and coming off a 5-1 win over chicago

if the sabres can pull out two points there, it would make it easier to forget the losses to san jose and anaheim where we outplayed them both thoroughly.

by Rafal Ladysz on Jan 24, 2010 3:26 PM EST reply actions

Defense

Yup, uncharacteristically Montador had a bad game. So did Lydman. But can anyone tell me why Butler is getting >20min per game lately? He’s not among our best 6 D on his best night. Where is Sekera? Where is Paetsch?

by S M S on Jan 24, 2010 3:33 PM EST reply actions

I’ll second the “Where is Sekera” comment.

"The three important elements of hockey are: forecheck, backcheck and paycheck." - Gil Perreault

by FloridaBuffalo on Jan 24, 2010 4:55 PM EST up reply actions

Nabakov was easily the story of the game; he was solid to say the least.

Before this road trip started, I was hoping they’d get about 8 points out of it. Publically, Ruff & Co shot for a lot more, which I think was a little unrealistic. If they can pull off a 2 pointer Monday night, I’d be thrilled.

Was anyone else aside from me a little surprised Lalime didn’t play last night? I kind of thought it’d be a decent idea to throw him right back in after that Anaheim debacle.

That was easily Montador’s worst game of the year. I’m certainly not ready to write him off, but it does bring up some interesting questions for Ruff. It might be time for Ruff to re-insert Sekera. But then, who sits? After last night’s game, it’s easy to assume that Montador gets a spot in the press box. But, I wouldn’t be completely adverse to giving Rivet or even Myers a night or two off. Rivet, just to rest the assumed aching veteran body. Myers, just to make sure he avoids that rookie wall.

How long can Timmy keep this up for?

A hot Vanek has got to be coming up soon, right?

by krytime on Jan 24, 2010 5:13 PM EST reply actions

Shootouts can go either way and we had a tying goal in Anaheim that they called back. I’m not trying to make excuses – but I don’t see how 9 or 10 points (as Ruff said was the goal) was unrealistic. We could have 8 already just by winning those shootouts, 9 or 10 if that ref waits another half of a second before blowing his whistle on the goal.

"The horse jumped over the f#@king fence."
- KV

by TEMSON on Jan 24, 2010 6:40 PM EST up reply actions

You’re right. Maybe it’s just in my head where I think the difference between where they’re at (6), where they could be (8), and where they hoped to be (10) is bigger than it actually is. Whatever happens tomorrow, I’m still genuinely pleased with the trip.

by krytime on Jan 24, 2010 8:23 PM EST up reply actions