Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) - This one is going to be real easy to analyze.
The good news is the Buffalo Sabres salvaged one point on Thursday against the New York Rangers to give them points in six of their last seven games. In that time, Buffalo is 3-1-2 and are now in fifth place in the East Division. That's one point out of a playoff spot, which is currently being held by the Pittsburgh Penguins.
That’s all the good news I have for you.
The Sabres were badly out-played by a team that came into the game as the NHL’s second-worst team with a .250 points percentage. The only reason the Sabres got into a position where Jack Eichel could make a blind, backhand pass that resulted in the overtime goal-against was the brilliance of Linus Ullmark.
Ullmark made 36 saves, including six on one power play in the third period, to, at least, get the Sabres to overtime. He made a great save on that man-advantage, flying across the crease to rob Mika Zibanejad and keep the score knotted at 2-2.
The Sabres spent most of the first 40 minutes in their own end, being out-shot 24-9. In the first period, the Sabres had poor puck management and bad decision making, they provided no support in any zone of the ice and were very slow to react. The were out-shot 15-5, yet, came out of the period tied at 1-1 thanks to Sam Reinhart waiting for Eichel to break free down the middle of the ice and laying a prefect pass on his stick for a backhand tap-in. That goal came with just 22 seconds left in the period.
Artemi Panarin was nowhere to be found in Tuesday’s game, but he was much better on Thursday.
He got a puck to the right of Ullmark and all four Sabres just stood there and looked at him. Rasmus Ristolainen had no clue that Ryan Strome had snuck in behind him, and Panarin hit him for the goal.
Panarin gave the Rangers a 2-1 second period lead, but after Ryan Lindgren cross-checked Kyle Okposo into the end wall in the third period, Reinhart converted a perfect pass into the crease from Victor Olofsson and the Sabres got themselves into overtime.
Early in the overtime, Ristolainen took off on the left side and had a clean 2-on-1 with Eichel. As he went to pass the puck to Eichel, for what could’ve been an easy tap-in, the puck seemed to flip on him. The defenseman then panicked and tried to shoot, but all he did was lose control of the puck.
A few minutes later, Eichel turned the puck over to former Rochester Americans forward Colin Blackwell. He went in on Eichel 2-on-1, and fed 19-year-old Alexis Lafreniere for his first NHL goal in his seventh game. The 2020 first overall pick became the youngest player in NHL history to score an overtime winner for his first career goal.
Taylor Hall did get an assist on the Reinhart goal, but he just gets worse every game. His power play entries are horrendous as he gives the puck away every time he tries to enter the zone. He rarely has the puck on his stick, and hasn’t scored a goal since opening night.
Ralph Krueger moved Hall to Eric Staal’s left wing, but it didn’t help.
Cody Eakin’s line with Tobi Rieder and Kyle Okposo had a really rough night. It seemed like every time they got on the ice, they got bottled up in their own end and could never get the puck out.
I’m not going to take this any further other than to say the Sabres were utterly awful in this game. They got a point and pulled one point ahead of the New Jersey Devils in the East.
The Sabres have won just one-of-four games at home this season, going 1-2-1. Opportunity knocks once again on Saturday and Sunday afternoons when Lindy Ruff brings his Devils to town.
Ruff coached his 1,500th NHL game on Thursday. Ruff coached 1,165 games with Buffalo, 328 games with the Dallas Stars and seven games with the Devils.
With a regulation win on Saturday, the Sabres could open up a three-point lead on New Jersey. The Devils have lost three out of four games.
