First Period
– Sabres started very sluggishly. Lots of sloppy play in the offensive zone including multiple instances of the classic “drop pass to no one.”
– Tyler Myers needs to start moving his feet. He looks sluggish out there, but he’s just not using his legs. Too much gliding is allowing opponents to stay with him.
– The Sabres power play has looked terrible early, but their PK has been strong. A late power play is slightly redeeming with a few decent chances.
– There was a weird moment where Nathan Gerbe got thrown into the boards from behind, then got into his opponent’s face, but before anything could happen, he was dragged over and thrown into the boards by the referee like a bouncer throwing a drunk out of a club. I don’t think anything will come of it, but it was the roughest I’ve ever seen a ref handle a player outside a full-blown scrum.
– Drew Stafford has been impressive in the first three games. Not just with his fight, but he’s backchecking, penalty killing, and finishing more checks than in the past.
End of period: 0-0
Second Period
– Can we go back to the first? Carolina scored just a minute into the second, then scored another shorthanded goal three minuted later. This is now two games in a row that Buffalo has come out flat in the second.
– And we’re back in action! Two nice goals by Hodgson and Pominville and we got ourselves a game again! Wahoo!
– Oh, god, this is awful. Two bad goals against in less than ten seconds. Enroth is struggling tonight keeping his five hole covered.
– Grigorenko only had three shifts in the second. He’s looked OK, but hasn’t produced much, so Lindy seems to be favoring the veterans while the team is down.
End of period: 4-2 Carolina
Third Period
– Grigorenko started with Stafford and Foligno, and they all put out a real nice shift to start the third with plenty of zone control. The team will need more of that if they’re going to come back.
– Vanek-Hodgson-Pominville continues to be the only line that can do anything tonight, as they score another beautiful goal on a turnaround pass from Vanek to Pommers that would have had fans screaming about Vanek not shooting the puck…except it actually worked, and was gorgeous.
– Aaaaaand we’re down by two again after the Sabres couldn’t get the puck out of their zone and Eric Staal makes them pay for the second time tonight. Too bad, after the Foligno-Ennis-Stafford line finally put together their first shift that reminded you of last year.
– Grigorenko played a whole lot more in the third, and did pretty well, setting up some nice chances.
– The Sabres red-hot power play cooled off considerably tonight, going 0-for-6.
– And Eric Staal finishes with an empty netter for the hat trick. Goodnight.
Final: 6-2 Carolina