If you only watched the second and third period tonight, and never looked at the scoreboard, you might have seen a decent hockey team. Sure, they were still outshot in those periods 28-15, but that’s par for the course with this team, and they only lost 2-1.
Now, just add in the first period where the Sabres gave up four goals, and you have a slightly different story.
In a borderline hilarious first period, the Sabres gifted the Rangers three penalties in a span of 90 seconds, and the Rangers scored on all three power plays. They would add an even strength goal later in the period just to show that they could, but the damage was already far too much for the anemic Sabres offense to overcome.
There’s really not much else to say about the game in which six different Rangers found the back of the net. Michal Neuvirth was hung out to dry and was replaced in the second period by Jhonas Enroth, but that didn’t seem to spark much life into the Sabres, as they were outshot by an almost 2-1 margin the rest of the way.
The team will get tomorrow off, where I’m assuming Ted Nolan will make them sit in the corner and think about the mess they made tonight. Woof.
Three Questions
1. How long will it take Buffalo to score tonight?
It took until the second period, and that was all the offense the Sabres could muster despite 25 shots, which is a lot for them.
2. Can the Sabres take advantage of the Rangers poor performance in the faceoff circle?
Yes, the Sabres actually dominated in the faceoff circle, winning 36 draws to New York’s 23.
3. Will Buffalo have anything left in the tank by the end of the game?
If a bad player tries hard in the third period of a blowout, and nobody’s watching, does it really count?
Comment of the Game
Howdy guys
So how’s the game going?
Oh God, I looked at the score. No. No. NOOOOOO!
That about sums it up.