Sabres Power Past Bruins in St. Paddy's Day Win

Buffalo gets two power play goals to win in overtime

Score: Buffalo Sabres 3-2 Boston Bruins (OT)
Shots: BUF 30-19 BOS

Buffalo Sabres Goals: Krebs (6), Power (7), Tuch (26)
Boston Bruins Goals: Zacha (14), Geekie (23)

Plus 1: Solid Special Teams

Buffalo started strong and finished better to record their second win on the trot, and only their first road win in nearly two months in a 3-2 overtime decision against the Bruins. Last night they got an early power play goal to jump into the lead before the Bruins had even registered a shot on goal.

The second power play unit of Benson – Krebs – Quinn with Byram and Power looked the better one, though each unit nabbed a goal with Alex Tuch getting the gamewinner with just seconds to go in overtime.

The penalty kill looked solid, giving up just two shots in two shorthanded opportunities, including killing off nearly a whole minute of 5-on-3 hockey.

Minus 1: Defensive Woes

After going behind, the hosts’ Zadorov had a big hit on Tage Thompson. Jordan Greenway on the top line immediately took umbrage and jumped the defenseman, making a big statement. However, that seemed to both energize the Bruins while also marking a passive passage of play for the Sabres.

The B’s held the puck in front of the Sabres goal and while both Jacob Bryson and Bowen Byram were both stickless, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen went down too quickly trying to stop a shot from Morgan Geekie with the Bruin aware enough to center for Pavel Zacha to slot home the leveler.

Just a couple of minutes later, Geekie embarrassed Mattias Samuelsson at the blue line getting to a long pass and then beating UPL a bit too easily. The goalie went down very quickly and his laughable attempt at a poke check was all too easy for the Bruins forward to evade and put the hosts into a 2-1 lead before the first intermission, leading 8-7 on shots as well.

Plus 2: Second Line Strong

In a low event game, the Sabres had the better of the remainder of the game as well, winning the shot battle 9-4 and 8-5, and then 6-2 in overtime.

Owen Power had a helper on the first goal, and then got his own goal, his seventh of the season, with a shot from the left circle that zipped over Korpisalo’s shoulder and under the crossbar. That assist came from Ryan McLeod who was outstanding throughout, along with his linemates Zach Benson and Jason Zucker to make it 2-2.

Zucker, Thompson and Dahlin led the Sabres with four hits each but just days after dominating the faceoff dot against the Vegas Golden Knights with a 72% win rate, they were once again poor in faceoffs with just 38% last night.

Minus 2: Luck of the Irish Refs?

A special shout-out to some truly awful officiating though. Sam Lafferty got sent to the box for the strange ‘Roughing – Removing opponent’s helmet’ penalty (second time we’ve seen that recently, I think) which then became a 5-on-3 because Connor Clifton got called for boarding (correctly). Then Zadorov’s hit on Thompson was one of those in-the-darker-shade-of-the-grey-area with a shoulder to the head and the puck nowhere in sight. It didn’t end there in the first either as Byram was sans stick because it had been slashed in two (magically by an invisible leprechaun likely) when the Bruins equalized, and then Boston also appeared to have too many men on the ice for their second goal too. The cherry on top of the first period cake came with Tyler Kozak getting yanked down in front of the zebras as the period ended with – you guessed it – no call.

Plus 3: Overtime Pressure

Buffalo dominated the overtime period, partly due to Marat Khusnutdinov’s tripping penalty on McLeod with 2:09 left to play. The Sabres have always looked free-r in 4-on-3 situations with more space to play in, and it was no different this time. Rasmus Dahlin tends to take over at times like this, and in a forty-second spell, he had a shot saved, then laid on a hit and then saw a slapshot also saved by Korpisalo as Buffalo amped up the pressure. McLeod lost the ensuing faceoff but the puck was cycled back to Swede who then cranked a shot off the left post as the Bruins were chasing shadows.

While Tuch will get credited with the winning goal, it was Power’s shot from the left circle once again that bounced off former Sabre Henri Jokiharju and then off Tuch to beat Korpisalo on the short side for the winner with just eleven seconds left to play.

Power ended the game with three points (1g, 2A) while Jack Quinn quietly had two points as well.

Final Thoughts

The Sabres gave a good account of themselves last night against an opponent that is still in the reckoning for a playoff spot. A couple of players have been talking about how the roster is now starting to develop into a team, and we saw more of that team spirit tonight, especially in how they stood up for each other.

Coming back from behind to win a road game is not something Buffalo has done much of this season, so this was definitely encouraging, especially when they were 0-7-1 on their travels before this.

Comment of the Game: This goes to our resident media expert and stats guru Michael Closser for his pertinent observation on the kinds of goals the Sabres have given up this season.

We’ve given up 229 goals, 109 have been from the high danger areas. Add 2 to each for tonight.

Buffalo have started their four-game road trip with a win, now they head off to the hockey hotbed of Utah to take on the no-name hockey club, puck drop at 9pm, ET.