Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) - It took awhile, but the Buffalo Sabres found their game on Saturday beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 in a shootout. This was the fourth game in a row they started turning the puck over and it was costing them.
The team took care of the puck and defended extremely well in the third period. It took Toronto 11:41 to get their first shot of the period. It was a Grade-A for Matias Maccelli next to the net, but Alex Lyon robbed him.
Lyon has won five straight games and is 16-2-0 in his last 18.
Part of the reason they looked better and defended so well is Zach Metsa returned to the lineup. Metsa played a season high 15:32 and in my mind has earned the right to be in the lineup every game. He filled in for the injured Mattias Samuelsson and played alongside Rasmus Dahlin a lot. Metsa hasn’t been on the ice for a goal against since October. His numbers are off the chart and he’s as solid as can be.
In my opinion he is the Sabres No. 5 defenseman and needs to be in the lineup every single night. He has earned that.
When Buffalo scores first they have a habit of winning hockey games. The Sabres are 30-5-1 when they net the first goal.
On Saturday it only took 2:01 and it was again the forechecking of Sam Carrick, Beck Malenstyn and Zach Benson. Benson would not be denied in his battle on the wall behind the net and Owen Power saw that. Benson found Power down the slot and he scored on the screen. The young defenseman has three goals and four assists for seven points in his last eight games.
Benson looked like his old self during this game. He played most of it with Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch and was hard on the forecheck and always around the net. I don’t think he had looked like himself at all in the seven games since returning from injury and illness.
Luke Schenn gave the puck away right in front of the net allowing Toronto to tie the game and Power and Rasmus Dahlin had as bad a change as you could possibly have, allowing a 2-on-1 goal for Max Domi.
After going two games without a power play goal going 0-for-3, Noah Ostland sent a nifty no-look backhand pass to Jack Quinn in the left circle. Quinn sent a change up towards Woll which fooled him.
Buffalo is still passing up way too many glorious scoring chances with many of them by Ryan McLeod.
Lyon is one of the best goalies in shootouts. In his career he has stopped 14-of-17 shots which is 82.4%.
In the shootout Quinn and Alex Tuch scored while Lyon slammed the door on the two shots he faced.
The Sabres really wanted to win this last game before they head out west for four games. It gives them nine wins in 10 games and puts them back in first place in the Atlantic Division with a points percentage of .657. The Tampa Bay Lightning are at .646 and the Montreal Canadiens are .631.
The Carolina Hurricanes lead the Eastern Conference with a points percentage of .682, but are only two points ahead of the Sabres.
Buffalo has Sunday off and then will practice on Monday before leaving for Vegas and a Tuesday game against the Golden Knights.