Tonight the Sabres returned from the Christmas break with a 4-1 loss at home to the Bruins that was an awful showing of special teams.
Despite solid pressure by the Sabres to start the game, the Bruins got on the board first 4:19 into the first period. After a poor exit out of the zone by the Sabres leading to a turnover, Mason Lohrei came tearing up the ice and put the rebound in the back of the net past Levi to put the B’s up 1-0. With 6:18 left in the period and Peyton Krebs in the box, Charlie Coyle parked right in front, wide open and snapped a perfect shot off Jake DeBrusk’s beautiful pass from behind the net to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead. Not as bad of a period as the score showed, but still not how you want to start a game against a team as good as Boston that can just choke you out.
The Bruins extended their lead to 3-0 4:18 into the second period as Charlie Coyle banked the puck off Erik Johnson’s skate for his second goal of the game and the B’s second power play goal of the game. EJ’s a fucking pylon on the ice every game and I still don’t understand why he never gets scratched and his old ass is in the lineup every night. With 6:16 left in the second, the Bruins scored their third power play goal, this one by Morgan Geekie. Pretty lousy period again.
Erik Johnson got the Sabres on the board with a quick shot from the top of the circle to make it a 4-1 game, 5:11 into the third period. That was all she wrote.
FINAL: Sabres 1, Bruins 4
Lousy game as we were outplayed by an expected goal rate of 4.31-2.36 and it showed. In five on five play, we weren’t awful, besides that we couldn’t find the back of the net and beat Swayman. We outshot the Bruins 26-20 and out hit them 17-10, but we never had a shot to win this game with how poorly the special teams played. We went 0-6 on the power play and gave up three power play goals. Pathetic. This team’s pathetic. Not a shot we even sniff the playoffs.
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