Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres did an excellent job of executing head coach Don Granato’s game plan on Saturday, but it's to the point of the season where it has to be more than that.
Buffalo held the NHL’s highest scoring team to one goal, and almost no scoring chances. I thought it was their best defensive effort of the season with all 18 skaters buying in.
Rasmus Dahlin led the way, as they killed plays and only allowed Vancouver one or two short pushes in their end.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had his fifth-straight good game, and thanks to his teammates, didn’t have to be spectacular. He was still solid, though, making 22 saves on 23 shots faced.
Two pucks eluded Luukkonen, but he got bailed out on one he would’ve wanted back. A Brock Boeser shot from the right circle found the back of the net, but the Canucks were offside and Granato won the challenge.
It didn’t take long for Vancouver to score a goal that did count, though, as Connor Clifton allowed Sam Lafferty to stand in the crease and bang home his 10th of the season.
Lafferty is the type of player the Canucks went out and got that the Sabres didn’t. He brings compete to every shift, and he compliments the star players.
Bringing players like Lafferty in is why Vancouver went from being worse than the Sabres to one of the best teams in the NHL in one offseason. The Canucks gave the Toronto Maple Leafs a fifth-round pick in October to get him.
Teddy Blueger is another one who plays the game hard, and was a free agent signee from the Vegas Golden Knights this past summer after winning the Stanley Cup.
There was one point in the second period where the Sabres had Dahlin and Mattias Samuelsson in concussion protocol, and Erik Johnson in the penalty box for fighting. With only Owen Power, Connor Clifton and Ryan Johnson left to play defense, Zemgus Girgensons had to play some shifts on the blue line.
Granato was livid he had two defensemen in concussion protocol, yet, he never got a power play out of it. Samuelsson’s came from an accident on the ice and there shouldn’t have been a penalty, but Dahlin’s was a whole different story.
J.T. Miller launched himself into Dahlin along the back wall, hitting the defenseman in the cheek with his shoulder. Since he did launch himself into the check, the elbow also made contact to the face.
Owen Power arrived on the scene, and it was Miller who immediately dropped the gloves. Power still got the roughing penalty. The refs reviewed the incident and only gave Miller a minor penalty for elbowing.
At the very minimum, Power should’ve gotten two minutes and Miller four minutes in the penalty box.
The bottom line for Saturday is the Sabres played an excellent game. However, there’s absolutely no excuse why they didn’t come away with two points and a win instead of no points and a loss.
Having to play the way they did, the Sabres weren’t going to get a lot of shots, but still put up 26 on All-Star goalie Thatcher Demko. That should’ve been enough. And by killing plays the way they did defensively, Buffalo did create excellent chances.
I have never seen a team that hits more posts and crossbars as this team does.
As regulation time was winding down, Dylan Cozens ripped a one-timer from the left circle that cleanly beat Demko, but it rang off the crossbar.
Buffalo had other good chances on that power play, but Demko stoned them.
On another power play late in the second period, Demko made the save of the game. Alex Tuch went cross-crease to an open Casey Mittelstadt off the far post, and Demko got across and wound up with the puck in his glove.
JJ Peterka had two wide-open one-timers from the edge of the slot, where he fanned on one and put the other one right into Demko’s chest protector.
Demko had to be sharp on Zach Benson’s redirect of an Eric Robinson pass. Cozens sent in Jordan Greenway for a shorthanded chance, but he couldn’t score. Demko stopped both Tuch and Tage Thompson in-close, as the Sabres were pressing, and then got up and stopped Ryan Johnson coming down the slot from the post.
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It all boils down to the Sabres needing to get two goals in their desperate attempt to get back into the playoff race, and they had plenty of great scoring chances to do it. However, they wound up with no points.
With the way they played, there’s no excuse for that.
Buffalo's home game on Monday has been moved to 12 p.m. EST, but there's one problem: Thanks to the weather in Western New York, the San Jose Sharks are stuck in Ottawa.
Vancouver wasn't able to leave Buffalo on Saturday night, because the storm hit earlier than predicted. The Canucks are scheduled for a 1 p.m. EST game on Monday in Columbus.
