The Buffalo Sabres closed out the month of December and started the month of January with four games over the course of the last week, from December 28 through January 2nd.
The team struggled, falling in all four games. They lost to the Washington Capitals twice – including once at home; fell to the New York Islanders in a “Tux and Pucks” game on New Year’s Eve, and also dropped a close one to the Detroit Red Wings to open the new year.
The week started with the Capitals coming into town on Monday. The Buffalo Sabres were ultimately unable to produce any offense and fell by a score of 2-0.
Two days later, the teams reconvened for a meeting at the Verizon Center in downtown Washington. The Buffalo Sabres managed to put a few on the board, thanks to two players who had been majorly struggling as of late – Brian Gionta and Zemgus Girgensons. But the effort fell short in the end, and the Sabres lost 5-2.
The following night, the Isles came into town to close out the 2015 calendar year. Although Ryan O’Reilly was able to pot a power-play tally, it wasn’t enough to match the Islanders, who won 2-1 despite being outshot 43-33.
Finally, the Buffalo Sabres closed out the week – and opened 2016 – with a home game against the Red Wings. Though the effort was there, it just wasn’t quite enough and the Sabres fell again, this time by a score of 4-3.
That being said, there were some high moments of the week, and a few players who deserve to be highlighted. Here are your Buffalo Sabres weekly three stars:
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3. The Goaltenders
I’m going to give the co-third stars this week to both Buffalo Sabres netminders: Chad Johnson and Linus Ullmark, who equally split goaltending duties.
Ullmark appeared in both the first and third games of the week, going up against the Washington Capitals and New York Islanders, both at First Niagara Center.
He stopped 24 of 26 shots faced in Monday’s 2-0 loss, and 31 of 33 in Thursday’s loss to the Islanders.
Johnson came in to play Wednesday – the first half of the back-to-back – and Saturday.
He stopped 38 of 42 shots faced against the Capitals, and 19 of 23 against the Red Wings.
2. Zemgus Girgensons
Like some of his Buffalo Sabres teammates, Zemgus Girgensons has been struggling lately. But he picked things up this week and had a strong showing in several of the games.
He was (obviously) held scoreless in the 2-0 loss to the Caps, but managed two shots and two hits in just over 12 minutes of playing time.
Girgensons came on strong in the second game against the Caps, with a goal and an assist to break his lengthy slump. He also had three shots on goal and one hit and played over 16 and a half minutes.
Though he was once again held off the scoresheet against the Isles, he had four shots and two hits, and followed that up by adding an assist in the Red Wings game – plus one more shot.
1. Jack Eichel
Eichel had two assists in the second game against the Capitals this week, then added another assist against the Islanders.
Of course, his best performance of the week came on Saturday against the Red Wings.
Eichel registered two goals in the loss, playing 19:20 ice time. It’s just the second two-goal game of his young NHL career, and the second in five games; he also had a pair against the Boston Bruins on December 26th in a four-point night.
With that, I’ll give Eichel a well-deserved first star for the week.
This week sees the Sabres face the Panthers at home on Tuesday, before visiting the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday (8:30 puck drop).