By Kyle Gunn-Taylor:
Buffalo Sabres rookie defenseman, Marc-Andre Gragnani, blindly threw the puck across the offensive zone intending to hit Christian Ehrhoff, instead Philadelphia buzz saw Claude Giroux cut down the Sabres overtime momentum, Wednesday.
Giroux stepped between the widespread Sabres defensemen and sped in all alone on Ryan Miller. A fake shot froze Miller, the backhand-forehand deke opened up his five-hole and then a firm shot along the ice capped a dazzling move that ended the game. “I’ll take the blame obviously on that one,” Gragnani said post-game, “If I can learn from it, maybe not go ‘D-to-D’ when one of the best players in the league is on the ice.”
The final moments of overtime lingered heavily over the First Niagara Center crowd, in stark contrast to the end of regulation.
Under two minutes to play, the Sabres down 4-3, Drew Stafford finally came up big for his team with Miller on the bench in favor of the extra attacker.
Jason Pominville fed Stafford in the slot from behind the net and Stafford made no mistake about sending the game to the extra frame. After the goal, a slumping Stafford raised his head and hands as if to thank the hockey God’s for getting him off the goal scoring schnide.
Before Gragnani’s misguided pass, the Sabres had all the momentum in the first two minutes of overtime. The home crowd was still buzzing from Drew Stafford’s game-tying goal, but the Sabres would only conjure 1 out of 2 possible points.
The Sabres opened the game in grand fashion, out skating and out hitting the Flyers on their way to a 3-1 lead after one period. They brought a physical presence despite missing three of their toughest players; Patrick Kaleta, Cody McCormick and Paul Gaustad.
The excitement of the first was heightened by the way the Sabres scored their first three goals. The first goal was a dandy, a power play tally, on a tick-tack-toe play from Adam to Kassian who threw a no-look pass to a wide-open Ville Leino who then deposited the hot potato into a gaping goal.
Kassian then potted his third goal in six games with a rocket shot that may have deflected off of Flyers defenseman, Marc-Andre Bourdon on the way to the top corner of the net off the rush.
Then late in the period, Flyers defenseman, Andrej Meszaros took a dumb tripping penalty and Thomas Vanek made them pay on the ensuing power play, with his team-leading 13th goal of the season.
Just when the Sabres looked to be in total control with under 10-seconds remaining in the period, Nathan Gerbe over skated a puck in his own end with Ehrhoff attempting to join the rush. Flyers forward Jakub Voracek took the turnover from the Sabres blue line and found Maxime Talbot backdoor to narrowly beat the buzzer.
The first period ended with a bang when rookie Corey Tropp exchanged fists with Flyers rookie Zach Rinaldo. Tropp got the better of the tilt, landing left after left, as Rinaldo attempted to counter with ineffective right-handed swings.
The second period was all Philadelphia right from the start. The Sabres looked to have exhausted all of their legs in the dominating first period, as the Flyers out skated and outplayed the Sabres all over the ice.
Claude Giroux assisted on all three of the Flyers second period goals, while the Sabres watched their 3-1 lead evaporate into a 4-3 deficit. “It just comes down to puck management” head coach, Lindy Ruff said “We weren’t good enough with the puck.”
The Flyers second goal was an unbelievable display of hand eye coordination by Matt Read who deflected a bullet shot by Kimmo Timonen from the point with Wayne Simmonds screening Miller net-front to bring Philly within one.
Later in the period, the Flyers took advantage of a late Sabres line change by hemming them in their own end. Giroux swung the puck across the ice to Scott Hartnell whose hesitation caused Miller to drop to his knees. As Hartnell let the shot go, Ehrhoff’s stick acted as a ramp, shooting the puck over Miller’s shoulder into the top corner of the net.
Three minutes later, Jaromir Jagr walked in 1-on-2 on Andrej Sekera and Brayden McNabb. When neither of the Sabres defenseman stepped up to check the attacking Jagr, he used Sekera as a screen and blasted a shot that Miller never even saw, that hit the far post and in.
With that goal Jagr passed Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson for most points by an active player against the Sabres, with 42-goals and 56-assists all-time against the blue and gold.
As the third period opened, both teams seemed to have exhausted their legs and were running on fumes. There was a stretch of hockey that mirrored the likes of soccer, as the two teams could only muster a meager 11-shots between them in the frame.
Just when all seemed hopeless for the Sabres, Stafford lifted his team and his own spirits by putting home the game-tier with the goalie pulled.
Unfortunately it was all for naught as Giroux proved to be the best player on the ice, with 1-goal and 3-assists, including the game-winner in overtime. “It was disappointing giving up a lead like that,” Miller, said after the game “It was disappointing to lose in overtime, we’re just going to have to move forward.”
The Sabres power play was much improved going 2-for-4 in the game, breaking a goalless streak with the man-advantage dating back the last five games.
The brightest light for the Sabres was the continued success of young guns, Luke Adam and Zack Kassian. The two youngsters also seem to be changing the fortunes of the struggling, and much-maligned, Ville Leino. Leino has 4-points in the last 3-games.
It will be difficult for the Sabres brass to send Kassian back to Rochester when other regulars begin to get healthy. Kassian provides the type of grit that has previously been provided by Patrick Kaleta, while putting up a point-per-game in his short stint with the big club.
The Sabres injury woes continued when Nathan Gerbe left the game in the second period with an undisclosed injury after being crushed from behind by Bourdon.
Bourdon was immediately jumped by Matt Ellis, but coincidental minors were called and the two teams skated five-on-five. It will be interesting to see if Brendan Shanahan has any inclination to meet with Bourdon after the dangerous play.
The Sabres skate on home ice again Friday, where they are now 6-8-2 on the season, against the Florida Panthers (15-8-4) who are first in the Southeast Division and 6-3-1 in their last 10-games.
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References
Buffalo
Sabres Schedule – ESPN.com
NHL
Standings – ESPN.com
12/7/11
– Flyers vs Sabres Boxscore – ESPN.com
Ryan
Miller Postgame Interview – WGR550.com
Marc-Andre
Gragnani Postgame Interview – WGR550