E-Mail
Print
Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) -- They pulled out the 5-4 win, but the Sabres still made a few mistakes on Thursday, especially in the first period.
The team spent eight minutes in the first period in the Toronto end, including a four minute power play, but still couldn’t score.
The team spent eight minutes in the first period in the Toronto end, including a four minute power play, but still couldn’t score.
After Pat Kaleta had hammered one of the Leafs along the wall, Frazier McLaren decided to challenge John Scott. Scott made up for the beating McLaren had handed him in Toronto. Orr chased Kaleta and jumped him pounding him with numerous punches. Buffalo had a four minute power play that produced many long shots and four shots wide of the net by Christian Ehrhoff, but no goals.
The Sabres did their usual panic job after Tyler Bozak set up a screen in front and beat Ryan Miller on the power play. Just 1:16 later, Mark Pysyk got distracted by the play coming in and let Nazem Kadri skate right past him. Nikolai Kulemin feathered a pass right past him and Kadri tipped it in. Buffalo did get its game back just after a power playo ended. Steve Ott again won a battle behind the net and found Tyler Ennis in front, who fired home his 9th.
The Sabres did get the better of the play in the period, outshooting the Leafs 11-5.
The biggest thing I saw was the passing. Buffalo may be the worst passing team I’ve ever seen in the NHL. It happens in practice and it carries over into games. They rarely get the one-timer set up on the power play because the set up pass is often in the shooters skates.
It took the Sabres getting down 3-1 to finally get back into it.
Marcus Foligno has picked up his game of late. He walked in all alone and tried to deke James Reimer only to have the puck roll off his stick. He stayed right in the crease area and was there when Kevin Porter’s shot produced a rebound. Foligno has been hitting tonight and seems to be skating better too.
Just 45 seconds later, Jason Pominville showed us the Pominville of old, winning two battles along the wall and getting the puck behind the net to Cody Hodgson. As soom as he cycled the puck he never stopped and went straight to the net. The passing has been horrendous in this game, but on this play we saw a really pretty play. Hodgson feathered a pass through the Leafs and right on Pominville’s tape break an eight game scoring drought.
Tyler Ennis is having one of his best nights of the season. He’s skating well, but it’s the battle he’s shown. He doesn’t care if he gets knocked down, he just keeps battling. It’s a big change from the start of the season.
The Sabres now have a power play goal in three straight games thanks to Christian Ehrhoff. He had been shooting wide all game and started to take something off his shot to get it on net.
"It's good to see [Ehrhoff] get that one tonight and build his confidence," said Ron Rolston. "I thought he had a strong game for us. I was excited about the way he played and for him to get that goal is important just for his confidence, and for him to continue to shoot back there."
On this goal, Ehrhoff had plenty of time to reach for the rafters and put an unscreened cannon past Reimer. "That was pretty hard," he told me after the game. "I had some time and I stepped into that one."
Ehrhoff also explained why he doesn't always shoot that hard. "It always depends on the situation, how much time I have. Sometimes I'll take a little off to put somebody else in a good spot maybe for a rebound. Sometimes when you don't see anybody in front, you have to try to really shoot it hard to have even a chance."
"It's good to see [Ehrhoff] get that one tonight and build his confidence," said Ron Rolston. "I thought he had a strong game for us. I was excited about the way he played and for him to get that goal is important just for his confidence, and for him to continue to shoot back there."
On this goal, Ehrhoff had plenty of time to reach for the rafters and put an unscreened cannon past Reimer. "That was pretty hard," he told me after the game. "I had some time and I stepped into that one."
Ehrhoff also explained why he doesn't always shoot that hard. "It always depends on the situation, how much time I have. Sometimes I'll take a little off to put somebody else in a good spot maybe for a rebound. Sometimes when you don't see anybody in front, you have to try to really shoot it hard to have even a chance."
I hope I didn't speak too soon about Ennis. After the Sabres took the lead for the first time in the third period, Ennis took a slashing penalty that resulted into a Nazem Kadri tip in. He followed that by a bad turnover that almost wound up in the net.
In all, it was an entertaining game for the Sabres and Leafs fans in attendance. "It was exciting," Rolston said. "Toronto had quite a few fans here too, so when they scored the momentum would switch back and forth. It would go from one side to the other with the fans. But it was an exciting atmosphere and they got to see a great game."