Demko and the visiting Vancouver foil Buffalo
Score: Sabres 0-1 Canucks
Shots: BUF 26-23 VAN
Buffalo Sabres Goals: None
Ottawa Senators Goals: Lafferty (10)
Minus 1: Demmers
Vancouver goaltender Thatcher Demko earned his fourth shutout of the season, making his record against the Sabres 3-2-1 with a .900% save percentage and a 3.14 GAA. He was made to earn his first shutout against Buffalo, with tonight being the first time he conceded less than three goals against them. Casey Mittelstadt will feel particularly aggrieved he wasn’t able to beat Demko.
The goalie came up big a couple of times when the Sabres looked close to scoring, including a goalmouth melee with just seconds to go in the game. To be fair, both goaltenders were very good in this game. The Sabres had gone with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonnen for his second straight start, and he ended the game with a .957 and 1.03 GAA. No mean feat against the team that leads the league in scoring.
By the way, that was absolutely goaltender interference for the game winner. Sam Lafferty looked to have elbowed UPL before he turned around and shot home. Granato looked like he was going to use his coach’s challenge but not sure why he didn’t, especially when he’d gotten Brock Boeser’s goal chalked off for offside by JT Miller.
Minus 2: Power Play
The man advantage continues to be an utter liability for the Sabres. Buffalo spurned three opportunities on the power play tonight making it three goals in their last 25 opportunities when a man up, and are now lolling about in 27th place on the power play rankings, converting at a measly 13.8% per game.
The Sabres are on pace for their worst showing since ten seasons ago when they were converting their power plays at 13.4%. Last we heard, Don Granato was getting involved in the power play, but the results don’t seem to indicate that anything has changed.
Minus 3: Headshots
Two Sabres had to leave the ice after taking shots to the head; both defensemen on the top pairing Rasmus Dahlin and Mattias Samuelsson got shouldered and elbowed with differing results. The former was able to come back to the game, but the latter did not return. Sammy has had a bad enough season with losing time due to injuries, the last thing he needed was having to go through concussion protocol now.
Gotta say I was pleased with the reaction from the Sabres though – after the cheap shot on Dahlin, Owen Power jumped on JT Miller, with the pair getting matching penalties. The Canucks forward’s night was not done though, with Erik Johnson then jumping him as soon as he got out of the penalty box. Sure that meant the Sabres were down to three defensemen, but a point needed to be made and it was.
Final Thoughts
Multiple teams in the league are stringing together winning streaks, but the Sabres somehow just cannot get on a heater and reel off a number of wins. They went up against an in-form Seattle Kraken and were outmatched, and now they lost a close one against the Pacific Division leaders. Next up for Buffalo are two of the worst teams in the league before they play the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are currently nine points ahead of the Sabres.