I had lacrosse last night so I missed the Sabres 6-5 overtime loss to the Penguins (that I cashed in on) as they gave up the game typing goal with 46 seconds left before Sidney Crosby won it in overtime.
Tonight they went to Columbus in the second half of a back to back and took a pathetic 6-4 loss to the Blue Jackets in a horrible defensive effort.
Slow start for Buffalo tonight, which makes sense with them on the second half of a back to back on the road. The Blue Jackets opened the scoring just 5:12 into the game on the power play with decent puck movement and a well placed screened shot by Yegor Chinahov from the left circle. With 31.2 seconds left in the period, Kirill Marchenko jumped on a turnover in the Sabres zone, beat Levi and made it 2-0 Columbus. Pretty terrible period for the Sabres.
Buffalo got on the board with 10:26 left in the second period as Ryan McLeod streaking right to the net capitalized with his first goal as a Sabre to make it a 2-1 game off a nice pass from Jason Zucker. Adam Fantilli gave the Jackets their two goal lead back cashing in on a rebound and Levi out of position with 7:42 left in the second. Before the period ended, with 2:31 left, Buffalo got on the board again as Jiri Kulich scored his first NHL goal with a nice tip on a shot from the point. Just 29 seconds later, Mathieu Olivier took the two goal lead again for Columbus, getting past the Sabres defense in transition. The scoring wasn’t done yet though as Owen Power answered back for Buffalo jumping in to get a rebound and make it 4-3 with just 25 seconds left in the period. Fun period of hockey to watch. I wouldn’t say it was great for either team, but it definitely was entertaining. I should’ve bet the over on this game like I thought about doing.
Only took 15 seconds into the third period for the Blue Jackets to answer back with a tipped shot by Zach Aston-Reese off Jake Christiansen’s shot from the point beating Levi and the shitty Sabres defense to go up 5-3. Columbus scored again to add to the lead with Dylan Severson making it 6-3 with 11:50 left in the game. JJ Peterka got Buffalo back within two with 2:09 left to go. That’s all she wrote.
FINAL: Sabres 4, Blue Jackets 6
Another pathetic game defensively for Buffalo with another terrible and slow start. The offense was pretty decent once it started going in the second period, but when your defense gives up six goals to a bottom tier team like Columbus.
Back at it Saturday night in Chicago for yet another lousy game that we should win.
Please follow me:
Instagram: @atownszone
Twitter: @atownszone
If you like the site and my work, share it with your friends!
… and tell Dave Portnoy to hire me at Barstool…
A Town's Zone 
2 thoughts on “Sabres @ Blue Jackets: 10/17/24 – Game Reactions/Recap”