(WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres played a good 40 minutes in Boston on Saturday and looked to be in pretty good position to break their 16-game winless streak against the Bruins.
The Sabres led 2-1 and were doing a good job skating and limited great chances.
Buffalo was the better team in the first 40 minutes, but that all ended in the third period, as they stopped skating and let a rookie goalie stand down in his end, making three saves and lost 3-2.
The shots, when it mattered the most, were 15-3 in favor of the Bruins, costing a very fragile-minded group their 17th-straight loss.
“They elevated their intensity, and we didn’t elevate as we should have,” as it was said best by interim head coach Don Granato when it was over.
The third period game-winning goal was especially hard to watch.
First, Craig Smith easily blows by Casey Mittelstadt in the neutral zone. The puck winds up to the right of Linus Ullmark with Nick Ritchie and David Krejci working extremely hard around the net to keep the play alive. All five Sabres that were around the net all became spectators and puck watchers, and none of them had any idea that Smith had come into the slot free. The puck squirted out to him and with 3:50 left in the game, the Bruins had their first lead.
As Granato talked about the game, he felt there was more to that goal that what I just described.
“I didn’t like how it came down the rink and into the zone,” Granato explained. “We had multiple layers of opportunity to create more initiative to create a turnover sooner, so the fact that we didn’t do that consecutively tells you we’re in a state of hesitation.”
The Sabres were only behind for 3:50 in this whole game, but still couldn’t do the right things when it counted.
The Sabres did break a 0-for-28 slump on the power play early in the game when Bruins goalie Dan Vladar went behind the net and just handed the puck to Sam Reinhart, who deposited his first goal in nine games into the empty net. Buffalo hadn’t scored a power play goal in 16 games.
Buffalo took a 2-1 lead on a play that saw Steven Fogarty and Kyle Okposo go to the net. Okposo had to win a battle and found himself with a rebound and an empty net. Good things can happen when you're in the places where goals are scored.
Ullmark was back after missing 15 games with a lower-body injury. He played a solid game, making 33 saves.
In Ullmark’s absence, Carter Hutton played seven games, Jonas Johansson started six and Dustin Tokarski started two. Hutton was 0-6-0 with a 3.67 goals-against average and an .883 save percentage. Johansson was 0-5-1 with a 3.82 goals-against average and an .884 save percentage, and Tokarski was 0-3-0 with a 4.11 goals-against average and an .890 save percentage.
I didn’t like the fact that Granato started the game with Dylan Cozens on the right wing. That only lasted a period when Cozens went to center with Jeff Skinner and Victor Olofsson. I think Cozens should be getting the centers reps until the end of the season, because it will only make him better for next year.
Granato is also reducing Cozens’ ice-time, giving him just 12:48. Fogarty and J.S. Dea were the only others that played less.
The Sabres’ next chance to break their winless skid is Monday against the Philadelphia Flyers back in Buffalo.
