The Sabres are in a huge slump right now and coming off the worst game of the year on Thursday where we lost 10-4 to the Stars. Today we played a MUCH better game but ultimately still lost, 2-1 in overtime to the Rangers, a disappointing result of a really solid game for Buffalo.
Really solid, competitive first period on both ends of the ice for the Sabres. The Rangers outshot us 8-7 both teams put on a ton of pressure. Ton of blocked shots to keep it a scoreless first period but I was impressed with how well Buffalo looked on both ends of the ice in that opening 20 minutes.
Play Whitney! With a beautiful cross-ice pass from Ilya Lyubushkin, he found Jeff Skinner wide open and Skinner ripped a great shot past Shesterkin, to score the first goal of the game 7:52 into the second period to put the Sabres up 1-0. The Rangers tied it up 1-1 with 8:32 remaining in the second on a Patrick Kane shot that deflected off Owen Power’s skate and past UPL. Bad luck on that goal. Really fantastic period for the Sabres, they outshot the Rangers 11-5, limiting them to only one shot in the first ten minutes of the period. Really good play by the defense, putting pressure on the Rags while the Sabres offense sustained really good possession time in the Rangers zone.
The Sabres were once again the better team in the third, but Igor Shesterkin was the best player on the ice to keep the game tied a 1-1 after 60 minutes of play. After that scoreless third period, which saw plenty of action, the game went to overtime tied up 1-1. The Sabres never touched the puck in OT and with Rasmus Dahlin in the box, the Rangers won it as Artemi Panarin ended the game 2:02 into overtime on the power play.
Final: Sabres 1, Rangers 2
Really disappointing result from a really solid game for the Sabres. We played really well tonight on both ends of the ice. The defense contained the Rags really well, which was awesome to see after the worst defensive game of the year on Thursday. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen played great in goal and the offense generated plenty of chances. We outshot the Rangers 33-25 and outplayed them by an expected goal rate of 2.62-2.21. Igor Shesterkin stood on his head though and was the best player on the ice tonight leading to our loss.
The next three games for the Sabres are tough matchups on the road, starting on Monday as we’ll be in Toronto to face the Leafs.
Go Sabres.
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A Town's Zone 