Tonight the Sabres bounced back from with a huge win at home, blowing out the Blackhawks 9-3 in our best offensive game of the season.
The Sabres looked better to start tonight’s game, but that’s not saying much considering how awful they looked against Calgary on Wednesday night. We were the way better team to start the first period and were awarded with the first goal of the game, with a nice effort right in front by Josh Doan, following up his own rebound after a beautiful spin-o-rama pass from Tage Thompson, lighting the lamp with 6:03 left in the first. A few minutes later, Jason Zucker made it 2-0 Sabres with 4:41 left in the first on a quick shot from the slot off a nice backhanded drop pass from Jack Quinn. Bowen Byram added to the lead, tipping in a shot from the point by Alex Tuch to make it 3-0 with 2:27 left in the first. Tyler Bertuzzi answered right back for Chicago, just 39 seconds later with the Sabres defense completely losing track of the puck out front. Really good bounce back first period to start the game after how horrible we looked on Wednesday, outshooting Chicago 14-6 in that first period and out chanced them 8-2.
Zach McLeod made it 4-1 Sabres 5:42 into the second period, getting right in the slot untouched and nicely placing the puck in the back of the net. Just eight seconds later, Mattias Samuelsson added to the lead, ripping it from the blue line, which looked like it got deflected into the net. With 5:15 left in the second, Chicago got back within three on a rip from the point by Vlasic. Connor Bedard got a great chance on a breakaway, showing how quick he can wheel down the ice, but UPL stayed with him to make the save. With 2:29 left in the period, Josh Doan gave the Sabres their four goal lead back with his second of the game on a simple shot from the slot.
24 seconds into the third period, the Blackhawks lit the lamp with a tip in from Bertuzzi for his second of the game, screening UPL and redirecting a point shot from Connor Bedard on the power play to make it a 6-3 game. 1:56 into the third, Tage Thompson with some nice puck control down low, took it to the front of the net, and made it 7-3, slipping the puck five hole into the net. The Sabres kept rolling, with Jack Quinn making it 8-3 with 12:53 left in the game. Buffalo kept rolling, making it 9-3 on a Jacob Bryson goal with 3:38 to go.
FINAL: Sabres 9, Blackhawks 3
Huge bounce back win. Especially with how badly we got embarrassed by the worst team in the league on Wednesday, losing 6-2 at home to the Flames, we needed this one. From start to finish, Buffalo dominated this game. The offense that couldn’t even sustain possessions in the offensive zone on Wednesday, and tonight we out chanced Chicago 20-13 and outshot them 30-23 on the way to this victory. I thought UPL was actually decent, making some solid saves, and for the most part the defense was good. Much needed win. I still think we suck, but a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.
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A Town's Zone 