Yesterday the Sabres opened the season looking the same as last year in a 4-1 loss to the Devils in the NHL Global Series, and they followed it up today with an even worse loss, with Devon Levi making a 3-1 loss look better on paper than how poorly this team played.
The Sabres looked a little better to start today’s game than they did yesterday. After a hit on JJ Peterka, Alex Tuch fought Dillon. Devon Levi came up big, making 12 saves in the first period to keep the game scoreless. The offense struggled to generate much, getting outshot 12-5, despite sustaining a bit of zone time. Not the best period, but at least we’re not in a 2-0 hole after 20 minutes.
Fun start to the second period, with both teams generating some solid chances in transition. The Sabres got on the board first with 11:42 left in the second, as Tage Thompson stuffed the puck past Jake Allen in a scrum in front of the net to give Buffalo their first lead of the season, up 1-0. The Devils tied it up at 1-1 on the power play not long later, 11:59 into the period, as Seamus Casey walked in the slot and picked up his first NHL goal with a beautiful rip in the top left corner.
With 12:42 left in the third, Paul Cotter gave the Devils a 2-1 lead off a great feed in transition from Jack Hughes right in the middle of the ice. In another horrible transition play, Jesper Bratt missed a wraparound, but Timo Meier was right there to cash in the rebound to make it 3-1 Jersey with 5:46 left in the game. This team is fucking pathetic.
FINAL: Sabres 1, Devils 3
This is the same shit as the last few years. The offense can’t get anything going. The defense doesn’t know how to stop anything in transition, and the goaltending is the only thing that bails this team out from being blown out. Devin Levi was the only bright spot today of this team, making 34 saves as we got outshot 37-18. We got dominated today worse than yesterday, getting outplayed by an expected goal rate of 4.67-2.08.
Might as well pencil in the 14th year of the drought. Pathetic. Two games down, 80 to go.
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A Town's Zone 