Tonight the Sabres got their first win of the season, beating the Blackhawks 4-3 in comeback fashion in what I thought was quite the sloppy home opener.
I thought the Sabres looked pretty good to start off tonight and just couldn’t generate shots, but it was the Blackhawks that scored first with the Sabres defense breaking down and leaving Ryan Donato open out in front to shelf it and make it 1-0 Chicago, 7:59 into the game. Didn’t take a whole lot longer, and with 8:36 left in the first, Tyler Bertuzzi went right to the net wide open for an easy goal, making it 2-zip. Our defense looks so fucking bad through this first game and not even a whole quarter. With 3:36 left, Jack Quinn wheeled around the top of the zone and ripped it top shelf over Spencer Knight going left to right and got us on the board, making it 2-1. Not a great start. We didn’t look great. The Sabres did start generating shots though, outshooting the Blackhawks 14-5, but we’re still already losing.
The Sabres tied it up right off a draw 5:41 into the game as Tage Thompson got a tiny tiny redirection in front of the net of a Louis Crevier shot from the point to knot it up. New game and we’re looking like the better team, as we should be against Chicago. The Blackhawks took the lead back with 1:42 left in the second period, with a quick two on one from Anton Fronded coming out of the box to Oliver Moore, giving Chicago a 3-2 lead, beating UPL five hole. Owen Power got smoked on that. He was on the zone for over a minute and a half, showing that our penalty kill couldn’t get out of the zone. We looked bad against, and UPL fucking sucks. This is going to be a miserable season again.
The captain, Rasmus Dahlin tied the game up again off a drop pass in transition to knot it up at 3-3, 6:10 into the third period after a slow start to the third. Cash the over. Tage, Power, and Kulich, who were all at the end of a long shift went up in transition with Kulich giving Buffalo our first lead of the game with 6:40 left in regulation. We’ll take it.
FINAL: Sabres 4, Blackhawks 3
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeDhmhxuJid/?stkn=dHVjeHl0enR2aTF2
I didn’t think this was all that great of a game. We outshot the Blackhawks 28-15 tonight and had to come back late to win this despite almost doubling up Chicago on shot attempts. You had to win this game, but this wasn’t a great game defensively or by UPL in goal. Low expectations for the Buffalo Sabres this season.
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