The past two games, the Buffalo Sabres have been showing that they can give a consistent effort, take control of games, and keep the other team down when they have a lead.
Of course, that was against the Leafs and the Panthers, not exactly the cream of the crop in the NHL.
Tonight, the team gave a pretty good effort, but they were up against a much tougher opponent, and their effort tonight wasn’t quite good enough, as they lost to the Blue Jackets 3-1.
Despite the Sabres outshooting them 42-29, the Jackets scored the game’s first two goals, as Kyle Quincy and Cam Atkinson gave them a 2-0 lead in the first period.
The Sabres would strike back on the power play (of course) as Evan Rodrigues would take a nice feed from Ryan O’Reilly to score his fourth of the season and the Sabres only goal of the evening.
After that, however, Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky shut the door on Buffalo, stopping 14 shots in the third period while Columbus added an empty netter to get to the final 3-1 score. Speaking of goalies, Anders Nilsson got the start for the Sabres but was underwhelming, letting in a couple of “meh” goals on only 28 shots.
One of the more odd stories from tonight’s game was that Sam Reinhart dressed…and then didn’t take a single shift all night. Bylsma said afterwards that he violated a team policy and his punishment was not playing, but did not elaborate.
Update:
Sam Reinhart was late to team meeting in hotel, source says, and punishment was increased. Reinhart watched whole game from bench https://t.co/ANitnotVGt
— John Vogl (@BuffNewsVogl) March 29, 2017
Thus endeth the Sabres impressive stretch of play, and the team heads home for four days off before their next game.
Three Questions
1. We’ve seen two very good efforts from the Sabres in a row. Care to make it three?
Don’t get me wrong – this wasn’t a bad Sabres effort, but they were stymied all night by a better team.
2. Can the Sabres power play continue to dominate?
The Sabres only goal came courtesy of the man advantage, and they have now scored on 7 of their last 10 after tonight.
3. Will Jack ever crack the point-per-game ratio?
No points for good boye Jack tonight.
Comment of the Game
Eichel with Moulson AND Foligno…
jesus just give him an actual anchor to carry
Posted by B.Chalks
B.Chalks is on a roll lately.