Tonight the Sabres started slow but turned it around to lock up first place in the Atlantic Division with a 5-1 win on the road in Chicago!
The Blackhawks started the scoring, pretty much immediately scoring as they went shorthanded, on a Ryan Greene breakaway goal, 3:56 into the game. Not good. Josh Norris tied it up with 57.8 seconds to go in the first period with a rip top corner on a nice one timer after a missed clear by Chicago. Beautiful shot. Overall this was a pretty terrible first period though for us.
Tage Thompson gave the Sabres the lead with 7 minutes to go in the second period, getting the puck off a skate down low, then walking to the crease and beating Knight pretty easily to put Buffalo up 2-1. Much better period for the Sabres, got the lead and back in the game.
Alex Tuch added to the lead and made it 3-1, 5:38 into the third, getting past the Blackhawks defense on a fantastic stretch pass from blue line to blue line by Dahlin. Tage ripped another one in with 8:47 to go for his 40th goal of the season, on a rocket of a one timer from Dahlin. Beauty. And cashes my team total. With some beautiful passing, Ryan McLeod made it 5-1 Sabres with 1:25 left.
FINAL: Sabres 5, Blackhawks 1
That win locks up the Atlantic Division win (along with the Lightning needing overtime to beat the Red Wings earlier) and home ice in the first two rounds of the playoffs! Huge to lock that up! KeyBank Center’s gonna be rocking for Game 1! Big win with another huge third period. Tt was a slow start again though tonight for the Sabres, which isn’t gonna work in the playoffs against teams that are way better than Chicago. We outshot the Blackhawks 26-16 and out chanced Chicago 23-14 and really dominated late though, which was great to see.
Atlantic Division Champions!
Let’s cap off the regular season with another win at home against the Stars on Wednesday and then Stanley Cup Playoffs…HERE COME YOUR BUFFALO SABRES!
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 