Tonight’s game was supposed to be a national game on TNT last night, but for the national audience’s benefit it was postponed to tonight due to the driving ban cause of the snowstorm in Buffalo. The extra day wasn’t a bad thing as the Sabres beat the Blackhawks 3-0 for the second game in a row, the second shutout in a row for UPL after he shut out the Sharks 3-0 on Monday.
Although it was scoreless, the Sabres had a really solid first period. They put a ton of pressure on Chicago, especially on both of their power plays, get a lot of good looks to score and outshooting the Blackhawks 15-4. Would’ve been nice to light the lamp, but if they continue to play like that 20 minutes, we should win this game.
In the second period, with some good chances early, it took until there was just 7:33 left in the period for the first goal of the game, as Zemgus Girgensons tipped in a Ryan Johnson shot to put the Sabres up 1-0. Not as great of a period generating chances as the first, but good to get the lead.
Just under three minutes into the third period, the Sabres made it 2-0 on a great shot from JJ Peterka down low, shooting it in a tiny spot in the top left corner of the net, placing it perfectly for a beauty. Rasmus Dahlin made it 3-0 on the power play with 13:54 left to go in the game, with a pass that deflected off a Blackhawks’ defenseman and right into their net. The Sabres finished it off with a shutout for UPL, a 3-0 win for the second game in a row.
FINAL: Sabres 3, Blackhawks 0
Solid game for the Sabres again and I know it was against the two worst teams in the NHL, but it was still good to get the dominant win. We outshot the Blackhawks 31-19, out chanced them 22-13, and outplayed them by an expected goal rate of 2.45-2.03. UPL picked up the third shutout of his career, third of this season, and second in a row. Good win. You expect to beat the Chicago but like Monday’s game, it was good to get another win and string two together.
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