On Tuesday the Buffalo Sabres upped their preseason record to a perfect 3-0-0, but this one was done by a totally new team. The 3-2 victory came from the Rochester Americans as 27 players left for Germany Tuesday night and they were the ones that won the first two games.
Amerks coach Mike Leone was behind the bench for the first time and his crew totally locked down the one-goal lead throughout the third period. Scott Ratzlaff made some huge saves in the final two minutes after the Penguins pulled their goalie for the extra attacker as he stopped all 10 pucks he saw in the final 20 minutes.
Pittsburgh native Michael Houser made the save of the night in the second period when Rutger McGroarty was along in front on the power play only to be robbed by the man they call ‘The House Cat.’ In 40 minutes Houser made 17 saves on 19 shots to get the win.
Where these Sabres showed their rust was taking penalties. Pittsburgh went 0-for-4 on the power play and Houser stopped Joona Koppanen on a penalty shot.
This game wasn’t a good start for the Sabres, but I noticed they started to get better and worked harder as the first period rolled on. That hard work resulted in two straight goals. Graham Slaggert tipped in a Zach Metsa shot from the right point and Nikita Novikov stripped Sam Poulin of the puck and ripped a shot to the far side on Alex Nedeljkovic who has to make that save.
The Sabres power play goal produced the game winning goal from a very impressive 19-year-old power forward. Anton Walhberg was hard on a few battles along the wall and found himself behind the net. He quickly came out front and Tyler Tullio’s rebound came right to him for the goal. You might say it was a lucky goal and yes it was, but Wahlberg made his own luck by getting into position right around the net.
The Sabres first-round pick from this past June, Konsta Helenius played his first game and there were some things to like. He wasn’t even close to perfect, but his anticipation was good and he processes the game extremely well for an 18-year-old. I'm sure he had more than a few nerves.
Isak Rosen was not one of the 27 players that earned the right to go to Europe, but honestly he didn’t deserve it. He didn’t dominate the Prospects Challenge like Jiri Kulich did and he didn’t seem to have his head into this game. He had no shots and had a lazy turnover on the power play that led to some shorthanded opportunities. This has to change quickly or the 2021 first-round pick is going to plummet down the depth chart.
This same group with maybe a few exceptions will be in Ottawa to face the Senators on Thursday.
