First Period
- Doth mine eyes deceive me? The Sabres actually scored the early goal instead of giving one up thanks to Christian Ehrhoff’s wicked wrister. Tonight is Ehrhoff’s 600th career game, the fourth Sabre to reach that mark along with Steve Ott, Jochen Hecht, and Robyn Regehr.
- Watching the Caps play defense is much like watching the Sabres play defense. Buffalo is dominating offensive zone time thanks to an inability by the Caps to gain possession or clear the puck.
- Mike Weber takes a four minute high sticking penalty, but the Sabres gamely killed it off thanks to impressive efforts from Patrick Kaleta and Tyler Myers. Washington came in to the game 2nd in the NHL on the power play against the Sabres 27th ranked PK.
- Most impressive in the first period: Myers, Marcus Foligno, and…Ville Leino. Foligno is having one of his bull in a china shop games, and Leino’s puck possession skills have helped create some extended chances with his linemates of Stafford and Ennis.
Second Period
- And just as I finish typing his praises, Leino scores his first goal since returning to the lineup as he puts home a rebound.
- And just as quickly, Tyler Ennis takes a penalty, and Washington immediately cashes is to cut the lead to 2-1.
- GERBE FIGHT! Nathan Gerbe drops the gloves and gives a few solid rights to Steve Oleksy, who rode Kevin porter into the boards hard. Gerbe somehow escapes with a mere “roughing” penalty, perhaps an unforeseen advantage of his diminutive size. All this in the first five minutes of the second.
- Ville Leino pots his second of the night, and on the power play, no less. I’ll wait for you to make the obligatory pigs flying/play the lottery/living up to contract jokes. Good? He’s been Buffalo best forward even outside the goals, flashing speed in the rush and good decision making in his own zone. Leino’s goal also means the Sabres have scored on the power play in six of the last seven games.
Third Period
- An early delay of game penalty by Washington gives the sabres a power play with a chance to put this game away. Instead, they give up a shorthanded goal thanks in part to a poor angle on the shot by Enroth. 3-2 Sabres.
- They’re making fans sweat it out again, thanks to a dumb interference penalty by Myers. Gets killed off. Still.
- After playing a fairly controlled final ten minutes, the Sabres finally give up the tying goal. Mike Green puts a slapper past Enroth with the extra attacker out for Washington. One of the bad things about Enroth being so short: he was leaning like crazy, trying to see through all the traffic. Got a piece of the shot, just couldn’t stop it clean. How many times have we seen the Sabres blow a late third period lead? Gah.
OT/Shootout
- Great diving save by Enroth. Wow. /
Pommers hits the post, Enroth gets schooled by Hendricks, Ovechkin scores. Game, blouses.
DBTB Three Stars*
1. Ville Leino
2. Jhonas Enroth
3. Alex Ovechkin
Postgame Quotes**
“I don’t think it’s being good [enough] I think it’s being experienced and being cool in situations when the game is on the line. It’s been happening too many times.”
– Ville Leino, doing his best to avoid saying, “We’re not good enough.”
“I don’t. I don’t.”
– Ron Rolston, on whether he still has questions about the mental toughness of the team; he would not expand on that. The Sabres coach was very short with his press conference answers tonight.
Comment of the Game
I believe we can!
I also believe I will have another beer
– finchieus, in the perfect description of what life as an adult Sabres fan is like.
*I figured we should let our dear readers know who we used our collective vote on, so here you go.
**Note: Post game audio will be delayed tonight due to technical difficulties