Buffalo fight back but cannot put away irrepressible Columbus
Score: Buffalo Sabres 3-4 Columbus Blue Jackets (OT)
Shots: BUF 38-40 CBJ
Buffalo Sabres Goals: Doan (3), McLeod (3), Dunne (1)
Columbus Blue Jackets Goals: Chinakhov (2), Werenski (2), Wood (2, 3)
Minus 1: Like The Old Days Again
A characteristic of the Sabres over the last few games where they have played better has been that they started games well. Tonight, they did not.
On Buffalo Bills night at the KeyBank Center with Buffalo Joe Andreessen banging the drum before the opening face off, the Sabres sleepwalked for a good part of the first period with the visitors jumping out to a fast start. The Blue Jackets won most of the faceoffs, 50/50 battles, rebounds, finished checks, physical clashes and just about every metric you could think about, including the one that mattered the most, a goal.
Owen Power and Conor Timmins made a hash out of clearing the puck from their own zone, but credit to Columbus who outworked the defensive pair to get the puck to Yegor Chinakhov (who apparently the Sabres have kicked the tires on) who beat Alex Lyon for the opener.
It took a big hit from Timmins on center ice to jolt the Sabres awake to finally get a shot on goal when the visitors already had a ten-shot advantage. They started doing the little things, moving a bit more, passing it faster, and that started generating openings. However Jet Greaves foiled every chance Buffalo fashioned.
The Sabres had a power play to close the period, but once again Columbus’ hustle was good enough to prevent Buffalo from first setting up and creating any real chances.
Outworked and outplayed, Sabres ended the first with just 31.6% of the scoring chances and behind 9-14 on shots.
Plus 1: Night & Day
Whatever Lindy Ruff said to the players at the break needs to be bottled up and widely distributed. It certainly set the Sabres’ hair on fire because they immediately were the exact opposite of how they started the game.
When you get pucks on goal, good things happen. When you finish your checks, good things happen. When you go to the goal, good things happen. That is exactly what happened in a matter of minutes as first Josh Doan took advantage of Timmins putting pressure on the puck carrier at the blue line. Tuch touched the puck to the Sabres forward whose first shot was first saved by Greaves but Doan persisted and jammed home the loose puck. Then Ryan McLeod hopeful show from the point went off Severson’s knee and dribbled past Greaves to make it 2-1 to the good guys.
The period ended on a bit of a sour note for the Sabres. First Olivier repeatedly hacked and slashed at Timmins trying to get goad the defenseman into committing a penalty but the Sabres player would not be budged into dropping the gloves. No call from the refs.
The immediate next play Alex Tuch drove deep and as Mateychuk lost his footing Tuch regained the puck and ended up getting called for an interference penalty. The Blue Jackets made light of the Sabres otherwise excellent penalty kill this season with Werenski’s seeing eye shot from the blue line going right down the middle and through Lyon’s pads to level the scores 2-2.
There was enough time for a melee before the period ended with a mass brawl, with Columbus getting called for the odd-man-penalty, which would mean the Sabres would start the third with the man advantage.
Plus 2: Keep Up The Pressure
The third period started with the power play once again foiled, managing two shots on goal. However Buffalo did not let that get them down as they kept working and getting pucks on net.
That resulted in the go-ahead goal soon after with former Blue Jacket Josh Dunne getting his first NHL goal, going to the blue ice and fighting for a rebound that Greaves had spilled.
When we talk about how Lyon has made timely saves this season, there was a moment about a third of the way through this stanza when he showed it again. After the Sabres had raced out to a ten shots to none advantage, the Blue Jackets found their second wind and started fighting back. Like they had numerous times all game, the road side won the puck down low and cycled it back through the blue ice. Most times it slid by harmlessly but this time Jenner happened to be on the spot for a one-timer and the Sabres goalie snagged the puck out of the air for a great save.
Columbus continued to push however and were rewarded for not going away quietly into the night. Chinakhov’s shot from the left boards into traffic was met by Wood who made enough contact to throw off Lyon and level the game at 3-3.
The third period was a fascinating back-and-forth affair and deservedly went into overtime with neither side deserving to lose, and throwing everything at the other. Sabres ended the period with a 16-14 shot advantage and 52.4% of the scoring chances, but it was Columbus winning more faceoffs and creating more high danger chances.
Minus 2: Overtime Ghosts Strike Again
In the first attacking action of the 3-on-3 session Jiri Kulich had a golden chance to pick up both points but was foiled 1-v-1 by Greaves.
More back and forth followed but with two minutes to go, Power lost Wood behind him, tried to tie up his stick but the forward had enough on it to beat Lyon up high from Werenski’s pass, and the Sabres’ four game unbeaten run at home ended with an overtime defeat.
That’s the second game in a row that Buffalo have lost in overtime, this one somewhat deservedly going in Columbus’ favor with a 40-38 shot advantage, 56.7% of the scoring chances and 59.3% of the high danger chances. When Lyon doesn’t steal a game, the Sabres’ chances of winning do seem to drop.
Final Thoughts
The Sabres’ will be left to rue the phases of the game where they seemed to either have not woken up yet, or fallen back asleep. Most nights in the NHL you do not win when you do not play hard for 60 minutes. Against a team like the Blue Jackets that has the right work ethic and leadership (aka the Sabres’ kryptonite), it was definitely not going to happen.
On a difficult night for all three defensive pairings, it was debutant Michael Kesselring with Bowen Byram who played well, finishing +1 on 17:58 of icetime, with 3 shots, 1 hit and 2 giveaways. The Sabres are now 2-1-2 in the last five games, which is a 98-point pace, but it would be good to bank more wins.
Next, Buffalo head off to Beantown to take on the Boston Bruins again on Thursday night.