(WGR Sports Radio 550) - Tuesday’s 4-3 overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers is exactly why this fanbase is so frustrated with the Buffalo Sabres.
If you’re a fan, Tuesday’s game would also be a reason to be proud of your hockey team. They showed guts, they worked hard, their best players were their best players, and they overcame a lot of adversity to win. They showed they are capable of playing well, and capable of being a good team
Where fans feel the frustration is they don’t see this enough.
The Sabres still haven’t won three games in-a-row this season, and Tuesday was only their third win on the road. Buffalo still hasn't won a road game in regulation since April.
Adversity struck this team before the opening faceoff.
They got the news that a very important piece on this team, Jason Zucker, is hurt with two injuries and is going to be out awhile.
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Then, Josh Norris was in the warmup and head coach Lindy Ruff said the center was feeling ill and then felt a tweak not related to any other injury. That resulted in their best center getting pulled from the lineup.
They didn’t blink, and came out and played a good first period.
Colten Ellis made a couple of nice saves, especially on Adam Henrique off a 2-on-1, and Connor McDavid wasn’t doing Connor McDavid things.
Then all of a sudden, Ellis gets run over and takes an elbow to the head from David Tomasek and gets up. Only 33 seconds later, the concussion spotter made Ellis leave at 19:01, and he was placed in concussion protocol.
Just before Ellis was pulled from the game, Josh Doan was able to tip in a point shot from Rasmus Dahlin on the power play to take a 1-0 lead.
You might remember Ellis was in goal when the Sabres beat the Oilers, 5-1, back in Buffalo on Nov. 17. He made six saves on six shots before leaving Tuesday's game.
Alex Lyon came in and made a huge save on Zach Hyman before the period ended.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen got dressed and sat in the locker room for the rest of the game, because the third goalie couldn't be on the bench and was ready if Lyon got hurt.
So now your starting goalie is out, and it's more adversity that the team handled well.
In the second period, Tage Thompson went to the net and converted a rebound, but the play went to replay and it was ruled that Alex Tuch made a hand pass to Thompson and the goal was disallowed. The puck deflected off Tuch’s hand, but technically, I guess it’s the right call.
That’s the second game in-a-row Thompson lost a goal on a challenge, but this team dug down and wasn’t detoured.
A few minutes later, Thompson scored again when he stripped the puck from Evan Bouchard right in front of the net.
Doan played the part of Zucker in front of the net on the power play and collected another goal when he made a nifty move, pulling the puck through his skates for his 10th of the season.
Doan is on a pace that would see him score him 27 goals this season. In 30 games, to this point, he has 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points.
In 31 games, JJ Peterka has 12 goals and 11 assists for 23 points with the Utah Mammoth.
So hard work, getting players to the net and good goaltending got the Sabres to the second intermission up 3-0.
Adversity wasn’t finished knocking on the Sabres' door, though.
For the first time in two games against the Sabres, McDavid was McDavid, as it took him 10 seconds to come flying into the zone, leaving Zach Benson and Tyson Kozak in his wake and it was 3-1.
Vasily Podkolzin then scored and just 1:56 into the period, a 3-0 game was now a 3-2 game.
The Sabres had played the night before in Calgary, and it would’ve been easy to pack it in and lose the game. Instead, they dug down. They had to kill two more penalties facing the No. 1 power play in the NHL, and the penalty killers along with Lyon did the job.
Adversity was going to show up one more time, as with two seconds left in the game and Stuart Skinner on the bench for the extra attacker, a puck bounced out to McDavid and he scored his second of the period into an open net.
Lyon was out on top of his crease on the ice with players all around him and had no chance.
Marty Biron tweeted out that NHL Ops confirmed to him the goal was looked at in the situation room and it was determined that there was no goaltender interference.
Off the opening faceoff of overtime, Tuch went hard into the offensive corner and outbattled Bouchard. That allowed the Sabres to get possession of the puck.
Then former Oilers center Ryan McLeod made a great play to find Tuch all alone in front of the Edmonton net, and he scored the overtime winner.
Rasmus Dahlin also assisted on the goal, giving him three assists on the game.
As for Lyon, he had lost five-straight games and earned his first win since Oct. 24 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Lyon stopped 21-of-24 shots faced in 40:59 of work.
It was a gutty win by this team that never let adversity get into the way of playing well and getting two points. They did the things that Ruff preaches and got rewarded. Their best players were their best players.
The frustration comes in why do we not see this hockey on a consistent basis? If we did, we’d be talking about a playoff race. Not a team in last place with no hope in the Eastern Conference.
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