(WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres lost to the Calgary Flames on Thursday 5-2, but in reality, it was a one-goal game because of two empty net goals.
I can’t say that I hated a lot of this game because Buffalo lost because they were 0-for-6 on the power play against the 30th ranked penalty kill and also gave up two shorthanded goals. Buffalo had only seven shots on six power plays and Rasmus Dahlin may have had his toughest night all season with the extra man. They mishandled pucks and Calgary pressured them into bad passes.
Another huge problem was Buffalo had 77 shot attempts and only got 34 on the net. The Sabres missed the net 21 times. Anytime you get 77 shot attempts, you should win the game.
The Sabres had 14 shots on Dustin Wolf in the first period, yet trailed 1-0 because Dahlin fumbled around with the puck and gave it away three times on the power play with the last one leading to a Jonathan Huberdeau shorthanded breakaway goal. It’s not an easy save for Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, but it’s definitely a place where you need to make a big save to bail out your teammate.
When it was 5-on-5.the Sabres had multiple guys at the net and did a good job of winning battles. For the first 10:31 of the second period, the Sabres stepped it up and dominated both battles and net front presence. It worked well because Mattias Samuelsson had Beck Malenstyn at the net and fired from the left point scoring off of Calgary defenseman Rasmus Andersson.
Later in the period, Samuelsson shot from the same spot with Tage Thompson in front and he deflected home his 22nd goal of the season.
Buffalo continued to attack until Luukkonen let in a goal at 10:31 that he just has to stop. Nazem Kadri took a backhand shot that the Sabres goalie got his glove on, but somehow he knocked it down to his pads and put it into his own net. That tied the games at 2-2 and Calgary took the play away from the Sabres. Buffalo was outshooting the Flames 22-9 until Kadri scored and by the end of the period, it was 25-15.
The Sabres got their game back in the third, but even though they had players at the net, they couldn’t get the puck to bounce their way, plus Wolf made some good saves. The Flames were the team that got the bounce as Brayden Pachal’s shot was deflected by Jakob Pelletier and then went in off of Owen Power’s skate.
That wasn’t the goal that killed the Sabres though, it was Kadri’s that made it 2-2 and should’ve been stopped.
What I didn’t like is Ruff got no battle whatsoever on the two empty net goals. Buffalo leads the league giving up 6-on-5 goals with 15 and there’s hardly ever any resistance. The empty net goals are way too easy because this team doesn’t battle when they have a 6-on-5 advantage. According to Statmuse, the Sabres are tied with the Colorado Avalanche for the most empty net goals against this season with 16.
Tyson Kozak once again showed he will do anything to try to win a hockey game. When he’s in the offensive zone, he’s either along the wall winning battles or around the net. In the third period with Luukkonen down and out, Kozak dove across and made the save on a puck that would’ve gone into the unattended cage.
If this was my team, Kozak’s AHL career would be over. He would be a perfect fit moving forward with Malenstyn and Sam Lafferty. When the time comes where someone has to go back to the Rochester Americans, I would waive Nic Aube-Kubel and send him down.
The loss puts Buffalo 1-2-0 on the road trip with a game in Edmonton on Saturday. The Oilers will be without Connor McDavid who is serving a three-game NHL suspension for cross checking Conor Garland in the face.
