The Buffalo Sabres look just as good as advertised with an impressive 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in front of a sold out crowd in Helsinki. Thomas Vanek leads the Sabres in scoring with two power play goals, one which looked more like an own goal than anything else, while Jason Pominville and Ville Leino each scored to give the Sabres their four goals. The lone goal from the Ducks came from Nate Guenin off a face off.
The Thomas Vanek/Luke Adam/Jason Pominville looked like the best line out on the ice tonight for the Sabres as they accounted for three goals and five points for the Sabres. Adam played his way onto the roster during the preseason with solid play between Vanek and Pominville and the first game of the regular season solidified that spot in the lineup even more.
The newly revamped defense looked solid as well, holding the Ducks chances down throughout the game and the team was able to sit on a three goal third period lead without having to generate any offense. The Sabres were outshooting the Ducks 25-19 through two periods and then didn’t register a shot on goal in the third period, which didn’t affect the outcome at all. Robyn Regher finished the game leading the team with 5 hits in his 19:25 of ice time.
The Sabres special teams looked good as well as they converted twice out of four chances while the Sabres killed all five of the Ducks chances. The Sabres power play looked especially good as players seemed to cycle the puck well and they also got to the front of the net often which was the major reason why they converted twice on the extra man.
The Sabres will now travel to Berlin tonight to face the Kings who defeated the Rangers 3-2 in overtime today.