Coming off a 5-3 win against the Kings on Wednesday night in a very good effort, today the Sabres got a 5-2 win in San Jose to finish the California road trip in nice fashion going into All Star break.
The Sharks got on the board first tonight, with Marc-Edouard Vlasic scoring long range on UPL through a screen short side, without Luukonen even seeing the puck 8:06 into the period. Pretty lousy defense for the Sabres to lead to that scoring chance. San Jose made it 2-0 a few minutes later, with a deflected puck off the stick of Ryan Johnson leading to a Sharks goal with 9:18 left in the first. Second goal on just four shots for the Sharks as Rutta was credited for the goal. The Sabres cut the deficit in half with 5:46 left in the period as JJ Peterka got in the right spot in front to end a really good team effort down in the Sharks down, getting rewarded with the goal. Jordan Greenway tied up the game with 1:59 left in the first period, with a nice little tip in on yet again another really good team effort with clean passing and ice awareness to set up the goal. Whole new game. Lousy start to the period, but pretty solid finish for it.
In the second period, the Sabres kept putting on pressure and got the first lead of the game. Casey Mittelstadt caused the turnover in the Sharks zone, passed it to Tuch right in front and got the goal to go up 3-2 just 1:35 into the period. Really good second period for Buffalo on both ends of the ice.
The Sabres kept rolling in the third period, and for the second game in California in a row, JJ Peterka got his second goal of the game, cashing in on a nice 3 on 2 rush just 4:33 into the third. Dylan Cozens capped off the game with an empty net to make it 5-2 with 4:16 to go.
FINAL: Sabres 5, Sharks 2
Great win for the Sabres to go into the All Star break. After the slow start in the first ten minutes, we once again got this game rolling for the second game in a row. The offense was clicking, scoring five goals for the second night in a row. We kept the pressure on the Sharks, outshooting them 36-25 and outplaying them by an expected goal rate of 3.61-2.11. Besides the first ten minutes of the game, the defense was solid and UPL didn’t let a goal in after that second goal in the first.
Over a week break for the All Star break. Let’s see if this team could come back and get the first three game win streak of the year.
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