Boston, Mass. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - If the Buffalo Sabres want to take themselves seriously as playoff contenders, they can’t lose two games to the Boston Bruins in the first 11 games of the season.
Back on Oct. 11, the Sabres played their worst period of the season to open the game, and still were only down 2-1 until Sean Kuraly scored the empty net goal with three seconds left in the game.
It was a completely different story Thursday, as Buffalo dominated every aspect of the game and still lost in overtime, 4-3.
Against one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference, a team that coming in had lost 7-of-9 games, the Sabres got one of a possible four points.
Buffalo now has three-straight overtime losses, and it’s the team leaders and players the Sabres count on the most that are screwing up games.
Rasmus Dahlin was trying to help his team come back from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits on Thursday. He got himself into Grade-A scoring position, but put the puck over the net once, and then went wide of a wide-open net.
In the second period, trailing 2-0, Dahlin went to work on the power play and ripped home his first goal of the season from the point with Josh Doan screening in front of goalie Joonas Korpisalo.
All season long, the biggest problem with this team is the middle of the ice. The coverages tend to be as bad as they could possibly be, and the Bruins made it 3-1 when the puck went under Alex Lyon.
Sabres defenseman Conor Timmins was standing with Mark Kastelic, but didn’t knock the Bruins forward down until it was too late. He already had tapped the puck into the open net.
Boston had taken a 2-0 lead when Jason Zucker turned the puck over at his own blue line, resulting in Dahlin taking a tripping penalty because he wasn’t expecting to have to defend.
On the power play, nobody covered the guy on a 55-goal pace, Morgan Geekie, and he put a perfect shot under the crossbar and next to the post.
The other goal was a horrific turnover by Ryan McLeod to one of the most talented goal scorers on the planet.
David Pastrnak led a 2-on-1, and he got Lyon to bite on a very slight move that made it look like he was passing. Pastrnak knew Bo Byram had taken the pass away, and with Lyon leaning, the Bruins veteran had no trouble beating him.
Despite being goalied by Korpisalo, the Sabres weren’t detoured.
Owen Power started a 3-on-2 and it turned out to be a simple play, as Alex Tuch put the puck to the net as Doan crashed the net, and the former Utah Mammoth winger converted the rebound.
Right after that, Michael Eyssimont went looking for Peyton Krebs, and the Sabres forward knew it would be a good idea to accept the fight to fire up the bench. He did, won the fight, and the bench was fired up.
Dumb move by the Bruins winger.
McLeod then won a draw, getting the puck to Dahlin near the wall, where he found Tuch going down the slot and the comeback was complete, 3-3. As Tuch shot the puck, Doan was battling with former Sabres defenseman Henri Jokiharju, and Boston challenged and lost for goaltender interference.
There was only 5:35 left in regulationm and it was a golden opportunity to take the lead, but they couldn’t do it on that power play.
Jordan Greenway took a stupid tripping penalty with 1:17 left in regulation, but the Sabres killed that off.
Once we got back to 3-on-3, Dahlin wanted to make something happen. He simply was trying too hard, and carried the puck against three Bruins. He then blew a tire, and then Tage Thompson got too close to Fraser Minten and missed him, resulting in a 3-on-1 rush for Boston.
Jack Quinn took away the pass that would’ve been a layup, leaving the shooter to Lyon. The Sabres goaltender couldn’t come up with the big save, though, and Marat Khusnutdinov had the overtime winner.
In Toronto, it was Quinn and Power that blew great overtime opportunities to score the game-winning goal. Against the Columbus Blue Jackets, it was Jiri Kulich who missed a clear-cut overtime breakaway.
It’s not easy to outshoot a team 40-22, out hit them 25-12, and have 19 blocked shots to seven and still lose the game.
Buffalo is 4-1-3 in its last eight games, getting points in 7-of-8 games. That’s a points percentage of .688. Their 11 points are one point behind the Washington Capitals for the eighth and final playoff spot, and two behind the Ottawa Senators for third place in the Atlantic Division.
Buffalo is off until they host the Capitals on Saturday, while Washington has a home game on Friday against the New York Islanders. That means the Caps will be in a back-to-back situation.
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