It looked grim.
Ghosts of seasons’ past were rearing their ugly heads in Key Bank Center, and all hope seemed to be lost. The “Second Period Lull” and Milan Lucic, along with questionable calls and non-calls by the officials, had conspired to leave the Sabres trailing 3-2 with less than 1 minute remaining in the 3rd period. Half the crowd had even left the stands anticipating another brutal loss.
And then something magical happened. After almost 2 full periods of lackluster and lackadaisical play, Ryan O’Reilly, Jack Eichel, Kyle Okposo and Evander Kane (all on the ice together with the goalie pulled for an extra skater) worked a strong forecheck and generated a rare scoring chance that they finished to tie the game with 32 seconds left in regulation. Magic Hands got the puck back to the point to Risto, who moved it over to O’Reilly in the right circle. He blasted a shot that beat Cam Talbot and rang off the base of the post, ending up in the crease where Kaner pounced on it and banged it into the open net. The remaining fans in the arena went nuts and just like that, the momentum shifted to the Sabres.
I truly have a hard time understanding why anyone would leave a game before the game is over. You aren’t going to get out of the parking garage any quicker and you just make the rest of the fans look bad. You make us all look like fair weather fans.
Before regulation ended however, a very important play occurred. After the tying goal, the Sabres were pressing for a winner. They won the faceoff and with less than 30 seconds remaining dumped the puck into Edmonton’s zone. Marcus Foligno went into the corner for the puck, won it, and tried to go to the net. He was dragged down from behind, which gave the Sabres a man advantage for the overtime period. This play was huge because once overtime started, the Sabres were able to set up in the Edmonton zone on the Power Play.
O’Reilly and Risto were working the point to start overtime. Each of them have cannons and after about a minute the Sabres were able to get the puck to Risto inside the left circle. The puck came to him on his off wing and he BLASTED a ripper into the upper 90 of the top opposite corner, the puck rang off the frame for the whole arena to hear. It was a great shot and a great way to win the game. Risto said after the game that when he shoots he tries to blast the puck through the boards every time. If he can keep getting those shots on target, we will start to see more goals from him- that shot is a ROCKET.
This was a big win for the team for a few reasons:
- It was a home game and it’s important to get max points at home
- We were sluggish for the majority of the game probably owing to playing the night before in Washington
- We gave up three power play goals and did not deserve to win
- We were able to contain Connor McDavid
So, at the end of the day, we have 3 points out of a possible 4 after two overtime games in a row and have a few days off until Washington comes to town on Friday.
Takeaways:
I truly have a hard time understanding why anyone would leave a game before the game is over. You aren’t going to get out of the parking garage any quicker and you just make the rest of the fans look bad. You make us all look like fair weather fans. Aww, the team is losing with less than a minute to play, let’s just leave while the game is still going on. I’m sure it makes the players feel great to see fans in the 100-level streaming up the aisles while there is still time to win. Credit to the boys for not giving up and fighting until the end. The real fans appreciate it. I would put money on it that some of the same people who leave the games early were the ones rooting for the Sabres to lose during the tank. That was shameful, and real fans stay until the end of the game and root until the end, just like the players play until the final whistle.
Connor McDavid is REALLY good. He flew around the rink and was clearly the best player on the ice. He is quite a talent and it was neat to see him play live. We did a good job limiting his impact on the game.
I also want to give some credit to Evander Kane for showing up last night. I know it’s been tough for him with people questioning his desire and questioning his character and to be fair he has brought a lot of it onto himself. I even remarked early in the game that he didn’t look like he was skating that hard, almost like he was phoning it in. Maybe he got a wake-up call from one of his teammates, or maybe it was an egregious non-call that got him going. In the first period, he got highsticked behind the Oilers net. The ref was right there and swallowed his whistle. I saw the play clearly from the 300 level and the ref missed it on the ice – terrible. But maybe it made Kaner mad, because he came out stronger after that and got his second of the year later in the first period. Then he scored the tying goal for number 3 on the season at the end of regulation. If the Sabres are going anywhere this year, they need this kid (and yes, he’s still a kid, he’s 25) to be the All-Star he can be. I am not giving up on him and I don’t think we as fans should either. I think he needs our support and needs to feel wanted. Maybe he’s just a sensitive player. We should support him to do well. Our team’s and organization’s success depends on him being good. If he plays well and we win, we could make a playoff run. If he plays well and we lose, Tim Murray might be able to trade him for that young left-handed defenseman we need. Bottom line is we need to support Kane and we need him to play well.
Connor McDavid is REALLY good. He flew around the rink and was clearly the best player on the ice. He is quite a talent and it was neat to see him play live. We did a good job limiting his impact on the game.
We have looked competitive in the last few games. With our youngsters playing well, our stars getting healthier and solid goaltending from Anders Nilsson (who made a huge stop on McDavid on a breakaway) we have a chance to do some things.
Go Sabres.
Sabres v. Caps, Friday November 9, 7:00 PM, MSG, WGR550