Denver, Colo. (WGR Sports Radio 550/WBEN) - It is absolutely incredible this has happened again.
No team in the NHL blows leads like the Buffalo Sabres, but to have the Colorado Avalanche absolutely punk them not once, but twice, it's something I have never seen before in all my years of covering this team.
Back on Dec. 3 in Buffalo, the Sabres held a 4-0 lead over Colorado just 11:49 into the game. Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev was pulled, and never played again for the Avalanche, as he was later traded to the San Jose Sharks.
Buffalo just crumbled in the second period, but still led 4-1 after 40 minutes. The Sabres led 4-2 at the 41:19 mark of the third period, and 4-3 at the 44:30 mark of the game. With 12:21 left in the third period, Colorado tied the game, and then with 4:22 left in regulation, the Avalanche completed their comeback, winning 5-4 in regulation.
That should never, ever happen to you once in a season. This team sat back, let Scott Wedgewood just stand there and watch for 44:11, they panicked and lost.
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Then fast forward to Thursday.
Buffalo came out again playing well, and scored on the power play in the first period when Jack Quinn set up Jason Zucker in front. Zucker sneakily lifted Cale Makar’s stick so the puck would get to him in the crease area.
Bo Byram was making his first return to Denver since being traded to the Sabres, and he made a brilliant read coming up the ice. Zucker sent him in alone off the 2-on-1, and he scored on Wedgewood to make it 2-0 Buffalo just 17:10 into the game.
Zucker got another power play goal in the second period, and 31:08 into the game, it was 3-0, Buffalo. This time, though, they didn’t sit back.
Just 3:50 after that goal, Makar scored a goal that only superstars score, and a goal that was something Rasmus Dahlin was supposed to bring to the Sabres. He just hasn’t done it yet.
Makar danced around Zucker and put the puck right under the crossbar, but Buffalo still led 3-1 after 40 minutes.
Ross Colton made it 3-2 just 1:05 into the third period, but a gritty goal by Zach Benson gave the Sabres their two-goal lead back just 22 seconds after Colton scored.
Benson scored on a wrap-around with Wedgewood on the ice, rolling in pain. The building went wild, as fans thought Benson crashed into their goalie and hurt him.
Nothing could’ve been further from the truth, as Parker Kelly spun Benson right on top of Wedgewood’s right leg.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar got caught up in the fans' displeasure and stupidly challenged the play, thus putting his team shorthanded. It was stupid, because Buffalo was 2-for-2 with the extra man, and had scored on six of their last 12 power plays.
I guess Bednar knew what he was doing, because his players really took in the energy from the fans flipping out on the referees.
Luukkonen had to make a huge save off a shorthanded 3-on-1, but then an old friend reared its ugly head.
Buffalo hadn’t committed a penalty all night, but the ensuing parade to the penalty box killed them.
Benson went off for delay of game in the second period, but they killed that off, making them 8-for-8 on their last eight kills.
In the third, Alex Tuch went off for hooking at 3:04, and then Dylan Cozens put them two-men short just 15 seconds later. And then Connor Clifton went along with Artturi Lehkonen 26 seconds after that.
When all was said and done, Colorado had a 1:38 two-man advantage, and you know exactly what they did with the fire power they have.
Nate MacKinnon made a cross-ice pass to Mikko Rantanen, and the open one-timer was in and out of the net before Luukkonen knew what happened.
The Sabres were still ahead and muddled through, letting Mackenzie Blackwood stand there and watch for most of the 16:12 that he played.
Buffalo did retain their one-goal lead until Tage Thompson went in on the forecheck, won a battle, and found Zucker in the same spot again to complete the hat-trick.
With 2:26 left in the game, Buffalo had a 5-3 lead, and Colorado pulled Blackwood to try to tie the game, playing 6-on-5. The Sabres were competing and breaking up plays, but they didn’t even come close to hitting the empty net at the other end of the ice.
Makar used a screen to put an absolute missile past Luukkonen, again, being the superstar he’s supposed to be.
But again, there was 2:26 left, and the Sabres were still ahead, 5-4.
I don’t think there’s any suspense here. Buffalo just kept icing the puck, and eventually, Colorado won the draw and got good control.
MacKinnon got the puck on the left wall, and for some reason, Dahlin went down on all fours to hope to take away a pass. Are you kidding me?
This is the National Hockey League’s leading scorer, not Keaton Middleton over there. This is not what the Sabres were expecting when they made him the first overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.
Beck Malenstyn didn’t collapse down the slot, leaving Jonathan Drouin wide-open, and MacKinnon picked up his 50th assist of the season as Luukkonen couldn’t make the big save at the big time.
Trust me, in the last three games, he has made more than his share of those saves. However, they needed another one there because of the panic and mental mistakes by his teammates.
With 7.7 seconds left in regulation, Colorado tied the game for the first time, and erased a 3-0 deficit.
It only took 48 seconds of overtime for Thompson to come up ice on, what looked like, a promising rush. It looked like they were getting an outnumbered rush, but Thompson gained the line and pretty much froze, not knowing what to do.
Devon Toews easily knocked Thompson off the puck, and took off and scored on a breakaway. Sabres lose, 6-5, in overtime.
Toews is a defenseman who had two goals coming into the game. Yes, it was a breakaway, but if Luukkonen wants to be a goalie that can win a championship for his team, he’s got to stop a defenseman on a breakaway in overtime, unless he’s a superstar like Makar.
So there you have it. This should never, ever happen to the worst team in the Eastern Conference, and one of the four-worst teams in the NHL.
For the Sabres, though, it’s business as usual.