Buffalo Sabres And Toronto Maple Leafs Knee Jerk Reactions
The Buffalo Sabres forgot that their offense can find the back of the net, and the Toronto Maple Leafs found theirs for the first time in
Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
November. Part of our offensive problems stemmed from the blue line not being able to keep the puck in the Maple Leafs end – at least in the first half of the game. Buffalo could not find enough offense to win the game however, as the Maple Leafs get their first win of November 4-2
Why do I get the feeling that your at the mercy of the interpretation from Toronto in the war room based on whose working any given night?
The Buffalo Sabres were the recipients of a solid non call against the San Jose Sharks which resulted in the Sabres winning the game. The Toronto Maple Leafs appeared to have scored the opening goal on this one – and Jhonas Enroth did everything in his power to keep the puck out of the net. Unfortunately after the whistle went – the puck did cross the goal line.
You had to know they were going to call the ref over to the headset – and everyone was baffled at the call – given the play was very clearly blown dead.
“There is no goal on the play – the puck was kicked into the net.”
No mention of the whistle being blown about a second and a half before the puck crossed the line. So had it not been off a Leaf’s skate were they going to give them the goal because the Leafs had the intent to score when the whistle was blown?
I know you can’t change almost two decades of bad habits in one night – but the Buffalo Sabres gave the Toronto Maple Leafs everything they denied them on Friday night – which led to getting out-shot (no surprise) and outscored in the first period. A Buffalo Sabres timeout when Christian Ehrhoff was whistled for holding would have calmed the team down, and possible saved the second goal. It’s still a fragile team – they were doing things right – but spending a lot of time letting Toronto dictate the pace of the game.
Retreat was on the mind of the Buffalo Sabres tonight – just seemed they were content letting the Leafs bring the game to them – sure we got a little more competitive as the game went on – but this was not the same Sabres team that showed up last night in Buffalo.
You have to think that referee’s have been given an ultimatum by the league to start eliminating fighting and certain players from the game. John Scott did nothing to warrant a 10 minute misconduct – let alone a double minor for roughing. Sure his gloves came off as he thought he was going to fight, only to get jumped from behind by the same Toronto Maple Leafs team that tried ending his career via the Paul Bunyan like Phil Kessel this preseason.
Sabres got out played and out skated for most of the game tonight – and you can’t fault Jhonas Enroth on this game.
The Buffalo Sabres continue to show glimpses of brilliance, but you have to stop spotting your opponents a lead in the first period and playing catchup every night – how differently would we be talking if the Sabres stopped just being “close” or “in” most of their games and won some of them?