Johnson earns first star with 102 saves in three games for Buffalo Sabres.
The Buffalo Sabres had an overall solid week the past seven days, with a pair of wins over the Detroit Red Wings and the Anaheim Ducks.
Sure, they fell 2-0 to the New Jersey Devils in between those games, which was not a great offensive effort and overall a pretty boring game. But that night pales in comparison to the two games that bookended it.
The Sabres opened the week with a 2-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday.
Ryan O’Reilly and Johan Larsson notched goals for Buffalo, while Detroit’s lone goal came from Brad Richards.
The Sabres returned to action the following night, hosting the Devils at home in the second of the back-to-back. It was a rough game, no real, solid action on either end, and the Sabres just couldn’t muster anything up, falling 2-0 to the Devils. Linus Ullmark had 19 saves in the loss.
Following that game, the Buffalo Sabrs hosted the Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks at First Niagara Center this week as well.
Evander Kane, Jake McCabe and Jamie McGinn all scored for Buffalo in the 3-0 win over the Ducks, as the team provided an overall strong offensive and defensive, all-around effort.
The Sabres then dropped a 3-2 shootout decision to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday in a closely-contested match that, in the end, resulted in a loss partly thanks to a handful of late, at-times-questionable, penalties handed out to the Sabres.
So overall, the Sabres went 2-2 this week, earning five of a possible eight points on the week.
Who were your top performers? Let’s take a look.
3. Rasmus Ristolainen
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Ristolainen continues to appear on my weekly three stars every week, and he’s quite deserving of the spot.
This week, he put up two assists in four games and was a plus-1 overall.
He played over 26 minutes in each of the four games, including 27:59 against the New Jersey Devils in the 2-0 loss. He continues to eat up big minutes every night, and the importance of that can’t be stressed enough.
He also registered 10 shots on goal this past week, had five attempts blocked and three additional missed shots.
Ristolainen is now tied for the Buffalo Sabres’ team lead with 17 assists on the season.
2. Evander Kane
I’m giving Evander Kane this week’s second star for a number of reasons.
First and foremost, his performance on the ice. He had a goal and two assists this week, playing over 19 minutes each night.
He also registered 14 shots on goal, including five in the 3-0 win over the Ducks. Also throw in 15 hits, six attempts blocked and three takeaways.
Kane has really been shining this season, and not just on the ice.
He’s also exemplified the Buffalo spirit in the community, taking 50 kids from the Boys & Girls Club to dinner at Chef’s and to Target for a shopping spree on Friday. Earlier in the season, he treated kids to dinner and the arcade. Buffalo is the City of Good Neighbors, and we’re lucky to have players like Kane be so involved in the local community.
1. Chad Johnson
Yes, congratulations, Chad Johnson. You’ve earned this first star of the week honors in my eyes.
Johnson stopped 102 of 105 shots faced this week, which in and of itself is pretty spectacular.
It’s even more spectacular when you realize that he broke Buffalo Sabres’ history with his 44-save shutout against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday. Johnson broke the record previously held by Ryan Miller, who had 43 saves in a previous shutout, which also happened to be against the Ducks.
It breaks down as: 32 saves/33 shots faced vs. Detroit, 44 saves/44 shots against Anaheim and 26 saves/28 shots against Chicago.
It’d be pretty darn hard to not give a history-breaker the first star of the week, so… there you have it!
Next: O'Reilly's Court Date Adjourned to December 24
This coming week is a short one for the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres can technically practice Monday and Tuesday, but that’s it. December 23, 24 and 25 are off-days per the NHL CBA, meaning no NHL team can practice, play or travel those days. The Sabres return to action on Saturday, December 26 in Boston; with the aforementioned rules, the team can’t travel to Boston until Saturday morning.