(WGR 550) – At least the Buffalo Sabres went about their business differently on Tuesday. They still lost their eighth-straight game, 5-4 to the Philadelphia Flyers, but it was in a shootout and they got ahead 3-1 and 4-2 before losing.
With Jack Eichel back in Buffalo and out at least a week with an upper-body injury, Dylan Cozens stepped in between Taylor Hall and Sam Reinhart and did a pretty nice job.
It didn’t start well, as Cozens, Reinhart and Brandon Montour were all on the right wing wall and couldn’t get the puck out. Syracuse’s own Joel Farabee led a 2-on-1 to the net, and there wasn’t much Jacob Bryson could do when the perfect pass went to James van Riemsdyk for his 11th goal of the season.
Buffalo didn’t crumble, and actually played the game the way it’s supposed to be played. Hall used his speed to gain entry into the Flyers zone, and got great support along the back wall from Cozens. He found Reinhart, who went to the net and it was tied at 1-1.
A little over five minutes later, Eric Staal took a puck hard to the net after Victor Olofsson showed some willingness to battle 5-on-5, which rarely happens, and Riley Sheahan scored because he was at the net.
Hall used his great speed to enter the zone cleanly again, and once again, Reinhart was in front and he had his second goal of the game. Reinhart is on a 41-goal pace over 82 games for the season.
Hart shut the Sabres out the last time he faced them, but in the game before, Buffalo chased him after scoring four goals on him in 28:09 on its way to a 6-1 win. This time, Hart was done after 20 minutes, giving up three goals on eight shots.
It only took the Flyers 2:58 to cut the lead to 3-2, but Montour made it 4-2 when Shayne Gostisbehere lunged his stick out and provided a launching pad for the puck to beat Brian Elliott.
However, Elliott, aka "The Sabres killer", would not give up any more goals, and is now 16-2-2 against Buffalo in his career. In his last three games against the Sabres, Elliott has given up one goal in 160 minutes of work, facing 75 shots. In this game, he played 40 minutes, giving up one goal on 12 shots.
After Buffalo scored that fourth goal, they pretty much got run over the rest of the night until overtime. The only reason Philadelphia didn’t win it in regulation was Jonas Johansson stopping 18-of-21 shots in the last two periods.
Overtime brought Hall back to life, as Montour sent Hall in alone through the left circle, but he couldn’t solve Elliott. That led to a 3-on-1 the other way, only to have Montour dive to break it up.
In the shootout, Krueger, once again, showed how much NHL coaching is over his head. He has absolutely no feel for a game.
First, in four shootout attempts this year, Johansson has not stopped one, so you know you likely have to score on every shot.
Over the years, Reinhart is 7-of-22, but he has scored some big shootout goals. He scored two in this game and has four goals in his last five games, so wouldn’t it make sense to have him shoot?
Taylor Hall had two assists and was one of the few Sabres players that was good all night. In his career, Hall is below average at 8-of-33, but wouldn’t it make sense to go with the hot hand that has a goal and three assists in last four games?
Instead, Krueger went with two guys that aren’t too bad in shootouts, but Rasmus Dahlin and Casey Mittelstadt didn’t look good offensively in this game. In his career, Mittelstadt is 3-of-9, and Dahlin is 1-for-3. Both missed, and it wasn’t even close.
Hall has been around long enough that he gets it. He wasn’t all that impressed, just because they scored four goals and got a point.
“We have to learn how to play with a lead and just go play," Hall said following the loss. "Let’s be serious, we’re a lot of points out of the playoffs. We should just be playing loose and playing free.”
“We’re not to the point where we’re taking moral victories from being close in games right now," Reinhart chipped in with following the loss, "That’s just the reality of it, and it’s disappointing that we finally didn’t get a win.”
So the Sabres come home from their road trip with losses in all five games and one point.
Krueger is still their head coach, and with Wednesday a team day off, we’ll see where that goes, but many feel it’s going nowhere.
