Tonight the Sabres got off to an early start and picked up a surprising 4-2 win in a game they almost blew at home against the Hurricanes on national TV with a great game by UPL in goal.
The Sabres scored early tonight to get the game going, with Ryan McLeod scoring on a quick release from the slot just 43 seconds into the game on the first shot of the game to put Buffalo up 1-0. Decent period for Buffalo on both ends of the ice and after a bit of a slow start for both teams (besides the goal), it got going to become pretty competitive with both teams getting some good chances.
Carolina looked like the better team to start the second but UPL looked solid in goal and it was Buffalo that scored the next goal, with Dylan Cozens ripping a shot from the slot on a three on two rush, beating Tokarski to make it a 2-0 game with 11:42 left in the second. In the closing seconds of the second, McLeod somehow scored again with less than four seconds left in the period with a tip in right off the faceoff to go into the second intermission up 3-0.
Jacob Slavin got Carolina on the board, making it a 3-1 game just 3:45 into the third period, somehow beating UPL on a long distance pretty weak shot. The Canes dominated the third period and with the net empty, Martin Necas made it a one goal game on a rip from the circle on a one timer off a great pass from Shayne Gostisbehere to make it 3-2 with 3:08 left in regulation. The Sabres got credited with an empty net goal to “complete” Ryan McLeod’s first career hat trick as he was on the breakaway with the net empty and Brent Burns slashed and broke his stick (following the game that got changed to Tage Thompson, who was the last Sabre to touch the puck). Technically the Sabres didn’t even have a shot on goal in the third period, and yet still got a goal. Shocking they didn’t crumble this game away, cause it sure looked like they were going to.
FINAL: Sabres 4, Hurricanes 2
We definitely got outplayed in this game, getting outshot 37-24 and not even getting a shot on goal in the third period. UPL was fantastic though, and despite being the worse team on the ice, Luukonen’s play in goal got us the W.
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