The Buffalo Sabres had been on a roll coming into tonight’s game in Boston. Having won four of their last five games, the Sabres had a chance to put themselves into a playoff position with a win tonight.

And in a fashion all Buffalo sports fans have become accustomed to over the past decade, they went in to TD Garden tonight and laid a big, fat egg.

The Sabres finished the night at the wrong end of a 4-0 shutout by the Boston Bruins. Tuukka Rask made 32 saves for the clean slate victory, while Robin Lehner made 38 saves while giving up four goals in what certainly was not his best game of the season.

The Sabres opened the game with a solid road period, leading shots 13-12 after one and going in to the second period with the game tied 0-0.

And that’s when it all fell apart. The Sabres took three consecutive penalties, including a double minor against Jake McCabe for yelling at the officials, and gave up two power play goals en route to a 3-0 Boston lead by the end of the period.

Penalties were the name of the game tonight, with the Sabres giving the Bruins eight total power plays (two of which were double minors) and allowing Boston to cash in on three of them, all while going 0-for-3 on their own power plays. There’s just no excuse for committing that many rule infractions, and there’s no way you’re going to win a hockey game by giving up three power play goals.

It was a depressing road effort from a team that had previously been excellent in their opponent’s building. The Sabres have now fallen back to .500, and get a day to think about their mistakes before hosting Ottawa on Wednesday night.

Three Questions

1. Will anybody score tonight?

Anybody from Boston? Sure. Anybody from Buffalo? Nope.

2. Can Robin Lehner stay hot?

A few of the goals tonight seemed like ones that Lehner should have had. You could see him hanging his head a few times tonight, never a good sign for a goaltender.

3. Can the Sabres and Bills pull off another #WonBuffalo night?

Oh Lord, we jinxed this whole thing, didn’t we.

Comment of the Game

Throw away the game tape.

Focus on the next game. This one was a mess all around.

Posted by curtisp5286