(WGR 550) – For a second-straight game, the Buffalo Sabres lost a big lead and dropped a 3-2 decision to the Los Angeles Kings.
In Anaheim, Buffalo blew a three-goal lead, but still beat the Ducks in overtime, 4-3.
Related
In this game on Sunday, Rasmus Asplund and Victor Olofsson staked the Sabres to a 2-0 lead. However, a parade to the penalty box, along with some sloppy play and running around in their own, end cost them three unanswered goals.
Dustin Tokarski did his best in this game, but had no chance on any of the three goals.
The Sabres put the Kings on the power play six times, with the game-tying goal coming with the extra man after Buffalo was caught with too many men on the ice. Buffalo took three third period penalties against a team with one of the NHL’s better power plays.
Buffalo pretty much had no chance of coming back when Colin Miller flipped the puck over the glass at the 17:23 mark of the third period.
I thought the Sabres played an efficient, clean road first period, leaving the ice tied at 0-0 with both teams having seven shots. Tokarski was never tested, and Buffalo got chances when Zemgus Girgensons hit the crossbar off a 2-on-1, then Jacob Bryson quickly got the puck to Drake Caggiula in front forcing Jonathan Quick into a big save.
Girgensons took an interference penalty early in the second, but it was OK, because Rasmus Asplund picked off a weak pass by Arthur Kaliyev and went on a 2-on-1 rush with Vinnie Hinostroza. Kings defenseman Kale Clague played it well, not allowing the pass to Hinostroza, but Quick couldn't handle the shooter as Asplund netted this third goal in two games.
Just minutes later, Bryson blocked a shot and neatly tapped the puck around the defenseman to get into the neutral zone. Olofsson walked in alone, as Bryson picked the defenseman, and he ripped home his fifth goal of the season.
It only took a minute for it all to start unraveling.
Anze Kopitar wound up in on a breakaway, but he missed the net. Then, Arttu Ruotsalainen just buried his head and had his shot blocked by Tobias Bjornfot. Eventually, Carl Grundstrom made Rasmus Dahlin look silly, as he waltzed around him and cut to the net. Tokarski stopped the first shot attempt, but couldn’t get the second.
From that point forward, the Sabres were sloppy with their play. Things improved as the period was ending, as Tage Thompson hit the post, and they got out of the period still up a goal.
The third period penalty parade happened because Dahlin allowed himself to get walked again, as Blake Lizotte broke through forcing the Sabres to hook him down. It took only six seconds before Kopitar tied the game using a Dustin Brown screen.
Buffalo had very few chances in the third, because they were killing penalties and started running around in their own end.
That was never clearer than it was when Bjornfot, Adrian Kempe and Alex Iafallo were made to look like the next coming of Lemieux and Gretzky with the Eden, New York native finishing the play off.
This game was a missed opportunity to get two points, and it’s something I know head coach Don Granato will address before the team plays the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.
If I was general manager Kevyn Adams, I’d keep the team in Los Angeles until I had to go to San Jose. The Sharks are in the middle of a very bad COVID-19 outbreak, and with so many players and staff in the organization having it, the AHL's San Jose Barracudas had their game on Sunday postponed.
Related
