(WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres had their biggest game of the year on Tuesday in Long Island against the New York Islanders, but got dominated in the final 30 minutes and lost, 3-2.
I can’t even remember how many times I’ve said this in the past against the Sabres, but, once again, it was Casey Cizikas and his line mates that absolutely dominated the game and won it for the Isles.
The game turned into a controversy at the 7:37 mark of the third period when Josh Bailey took a shot from the right side. Dylan Cozens had Hudson Fasching at the net, but drifted away from him and let him go. As Bailey shot the puck, Fasching, who was all alone, turned his leg to deflect the puck and it went in.
The referee originally ruled there was a distinctive kicking motion and waved off the goal. The play automatically goes to Toronto for review, and overturned the call, giving the Islanders a goal and the 3-2 lead.
Here is the official statement from the NHL on the overturned goal:
“Video review determined that the puck deflected off New York’s Hudson Fasching and into the net in a legal fashion.”
What they’re saying is there was no distinct kicking motion and the goal counted.
At the end of the day, whether the goal counted or not, the Sabres didn’t deserve to win this huge game in the playoff race.
By losing back-to-back games by a 3-2 score, Buffalo did damage to their playoff hopes, but it can still be salvaged. Buffalo falls to 11th in the Eastern Conference, six points behind New York with three games in-hand. They’re five points back of the eighth place Pittsburgh Penguins with the same amount of games played.
The Sabres are two points behind the ninth place Florida Panthers with two games in-hand, tied in points with the Ottawa Senators with no games in-hand and tied with the 12th place Washington Capitals with two games in-hand.
This is the first time most of these young players have ever played in an NHL playoff race. They are getting valuable experience, but what they'll learn from this game is the Islanders had 30 blocked shots. The Sabres worried so much about it, they passed up many golden opportunities to shoot.
Late in the game and down a goal, Jacob Bryson came right down the wide-open slot. It was just him and Sorokin, but for some reason that I can’t explain, he tried a cross-ice pass through three Islanders to a covered guy who would’ve had an off-angle shot had he gotten the pass.
Bryson had a Grade-A opportunity. He has to shoot that puck 100-out-of-100 times.
That’s just one example of many.
In the two games on Monday and Tuesday, Tage Thompson had no goals and one assist. Jeff Skinner had one goal and no assists, Rasmus Dahlin and Victor Olofsson were pointless.
In the biggest games, your best players must be your best players. Instead, they got frustrated.
That’s where this experience should help them. I think those players will come through in the clutch, but unfortunately, they must have some growing pains first.
The first period was dead-even, as both goalies made eight saves. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Ilya Sorokin came up huge when they had to, and it remained 0-0.
In the second, Cozens and Henri Jokiharju did a tremendous job just outside the blue line to force a turnover. Cozens accelerated into the zone and ripped home his 25th goal of the season.
At about the 10-minute mark, things turned and the Islanders enjoyed an 11-1 shots advantage in the second half of the period. At 12:38, Cozens was right with Cizikas in-tight on Luukkonen, but he wound up on the wrong side of him. That allowed Cizikas to take a pass from Fasching, who was behind the net and it was 1-1.
Cozens also had numerous turnovers in this game that resulted in scoring chances. The one thing you know about this kid is he’s angry, very angry, and he will make sure a game like that never happens again.
Bailey got the other goal, as he jumped on a rolling puck to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead before Kyle Okposo tied the game for the Sabres at 2-2.
Okposo's goal was a well-set up goal, as Jordan Greenway went to the net with a defenseman providing a screen. Okposo realized this, and shot from just inside the blue line to score under the crossbar. The puck may have hit Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov.
I thought Luukkonen played very well in this game, making 36 saves in a losing effort.
Related
The Sabres have no choice but to look forward, and they will face the Western Conference’s second-best team and the NHL’s sixth-best team - by point percentage - on Thursday in the Dallas Stars.
Buffalo just faced two All-Star goalies in Sorokin and Stuart Skinner, and that streak continues against Dallas' Jake Oettinger, and then Igor Shesterkin from the New York Rangers on Saturday.
