Tonight I don’t think there were many people watching the Sabres face Utah as the NHL had a huge slate going up against March Madness, with Buffalo losing 5-2 on the road in a game that wasn’t too bad.
Both teams got plenty of good chances with some great goaltending to start this game, but it was Utah that got on the board first, with Logan Cooley making it 1-0 on an easy 2 on 0 right in front with Nick Schmaltz after a McLeod turnover behind the Sabres net with 2:33 left in the first. With just 10.1 seconds left the Sabres tied up the game 1-1 on the power play on a one timer from JJ Peterka off a beautiful cross ice pass by Jason Zucker. Buffalo looked pretty sloppy, but fun period, especially the end to it.
The Sabres took the lead just eleven seconds in the second period, tipped in by Beck Malenstyn. Utah challenged it for goaltender interference, and it was determined to be, taking it off the board. With 8:10 to go in the second, Mikhail Sergachev ripped it from the top of the zone right off the faceoff to give Utah the 2-1 lead with a ton of traffic in front of James Reimer. Not the best period there for Buffalo, and not getting the goal to count to start the period didn’t help.
1:32 into the third, the Sabres tied the game up with a beautiful short handed breakaway goal by Ryan McLeod. With 5:47 left in regulation, Utah scored on a great team effort to go up 3-2, with Dylan Guenther getting the second rebound on the side of the net and ripping it in the net off a nice rush on the zone entry. With 1:10 left, Utah capped off the game with an empty netter that the Sabres scored themselves, on a 6 on 4 for a delayed penalty, missing a pass, having the puck bounce off the boards and all the way into the net in pathetic fashion, getting me at least a push on my over. Sergachev scored his second of the game on the empty net to make it 5-2 to cash that over with 18.6 seconds left, shooting it the entire length of the ice.
FINAL: Sabres 2, Utah 5
Not a horrendous game, but yet again another loss for the Sabres (and a double winner for me).
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