Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – For the second-straight game, the Buffalo Sabres didn’t have their “A” game, but got the game to overtime, losing 5-4 to the New York Rangers on Sunday evening.
Buffalo was awful to start this game, and were down 2-0 just 4:17 in. Newly acquired winger Frank Vatrano had two goals in just 18 seconds to grab that lead for the Rangers.
On the first goal, Tage Thompson won the draw, but Henri Jokiharju totally misread the play by stepping up and allowing Vatrano to lead a 2-on-1. Rasmus Dahlin played it perfectly, taking the pass away and leaving Anderson with the shooter. However, the Sabres didn’t get the big save.
Immediately after that, Thompson turned it over in the neutral zone, leading to a Vatrano breakaway. Once again, Anderson couldn’t come up with a big save at the big time.
Buffalo muddled through the period, but very rarely took the Rangers' speed away, as the Blue Shirts came at them in waves. Dylan Cozens had three of Buffalo’s four shots until late in the period.
Mattias Samuelsson kept a puck in on the left wall and made a perfect cross-ice pass to Rasmus Asplund off the right post. Asplund's first goal in 47 games made the score 2-1, with his last goal coming on Nov. 21 in the same building, Madison Square Garden.
Buffalo was much better in the second period and caused problems for Rangers goalie Alexandar Georgiev. Will Butcher, who struggled mightily defensively, helped with the offense, as he came from the bench and found a wide-open space in the slot. Peyton Krebs made a nice pass, and Butcher scored his first goal in 13 games.
The Sabres weren’t done, as Kyle Okposo got a puck in down the left wing side and he charged hard to the net. He slid a puck under Georgiev, off the far post and in. That was his first goal in 10 games.
It was nice to see that as poorly as the Sabres played getting down 2-0, they responded very well, playing hard to take the lead.
Anderson did make a huge save on an Alexis Lafreniere breakaway chance, but a few minutes later, Lafreniere came open through the left circle off a 3-on-2 rush and he scored, giving him points in six-straight games.
In the third, the Sabres were just dead, taking 12 minutes to get their first shot of the period. The second shot allowed them to tie the game again on the power play. Dahlin usually doesn’t take the puck down low with the extra man, but he did and took a lane to the front of the net. That left the puck for Jeff Skinner to tie it at 4-4.
Buffalo did come from two goals down and eventally got the game into overtime for the fifth-straight game. That means the Sabres have picked up eight out of 10 points.
It’s the first time since 2010 the Sabres have played in five-consecutive overtime games.
Cody Eakin, again, gave the Sabres the puck first in overtime by winning the faceoff, but Buffalo was never dangerous.
Another Thompson turnover, as he tried an unsuccessful stretch pass to Dahlin, resulted in a 3-on-2 and the game-winning goal by defenseman K’Andre Miller.
The Rangers are now 9-0-1 in their last 10 games against the Sabres.
Buffalo only had 17 shots in 62:02 of play, with 10 of them coming in the second period.
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The Sabres played tired, but I don’t know why they would be. Buffalo played on Wednesday and then Friday, having Saturday off from game action. It makes no sense why the energy was so low.
Now they must find a way to get that energy back quickly, because they’re right back at it on Monday in Chicago against the Blackhawks.
