Thursday night’s game reminds me of the above scene in Anchorman. The game was going so well to start as the Sabres got out to a two goal lead in the first period. Jason Pominville got the scoring started at the 5:15 mark with a goal from just in front of the net off a pass from Tyler Myers. Thomas Vanek scored 4:15 later on a nice slapshot that flew under the pads of Ilya Bryzgalov. Things were looking good for the Sabres. They had outshot the Flyers 12-11 in the period and it looked like a repeat of the Boston game from last week all over again.
Then the game got out of hand.
The Flyers scored 54 seconds into the second period and by the end of the second period, they had scored four goals and effectively chased Jhonas Enroth. The third period came and the Flyers scored three more goals to give them a 7-2 victory. The Sabres were outshot 12-6 in the second period and 35-29 overall in the game.
Wayne Simmonds scored twice after taking a puck to the face during warmups. Maxime Talbot scored twice and Erik Gustafsson and Jacob Voracek each had one goal as well. Claude Giroux ended up with a five point night with five assists and Scott Hartnell had a goal and three assists as well.
So where did it all go wrong? Here is Lindy Ruff’s assessment of the situation:
“That’s about as bad as you can play defensively,”
The Sabres have a chance to quickly forget that dismal nightmare as they take on the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night at the First Niagara Center. Thankfully for Sabres fans, the Sabres have had some success against the Canadiens as they have won all three games this season. This is the first trip for the Canadiens to the First Niagara Center this season.