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Buffalo Sabres: 3 Stars Of Sabres Final Win At The Joe

By Adam DeRose |
Mar 14, 2017; San Jose, CA, USA; Buffalo Sabres goalie Robin Lehner (40) watches the puck against the San Jose Sharks during the first period at SAP Center at San Jose. The San Jose Sharks defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 14, 2017; San Jose, CA, USA; Buffalo Sabres goalie Robin Lehner (40) watches the puck against the San Jose Sharks during the first period at SAP Center at San Jose. The San Jose Sharks defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

The Buffalo Sabres made their last visit to Joe Louis Arena a memorable one.  Adam hands out his three stars for the evening.

This evening, the Buffalo Sabres played the Detroit Red Wings for the final time at Joe Louis Arena. This fall, the Wings will travel down the Detroit People Mover to their new home, Little Caesars Arena; or as I would like to call it, the Pizza Box.

The Buffalo Sabres defeated the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 and ended the season series with the Wings, winning 3 out of the 4 matches. After watching the entire game, here are my 3 Stars:

  1. Goaltender Robin Lehner—Lehner played a phenomenal game for the Blue & Gold. There were times, especially during Buffalo’s dreaded 2nd Period, that he kept his team in the lead. Lehner made 34 saves on 35 shots. Before the game, I was curious on how the Buffalo Sabres were going to play in front of Lehner, considering he publically chewed his team out last Thursday night in Los Angeles after their pathetic 2-0 loss to the Kings. Well, it looked like the team listened and showed up to perform in front of him tonight.
  2. The Power Play—I’m thrilled to see the Buffalo Sabres’ power play still being a well-oiled machine. Buffalo was 2/2 on the power play tonight; netting goals from Jack Eichel and Matt Moulson…and for the record, tonight was Moulson’s 14th goal of the season. What’s more interesting is that he scored his 11th power play goal, which leads the team. After the game, I checked the NHL’s stats page  to see how Buffalo’s power play ranked. I’m not sure if the site has been updated yet, but we are still sitting in 2nd place, just ever so slightly behind Toronto.
  3. Rasmus Ristolainen—the man is just an absolute beast! Besides Robin Lehner, Risto logged the most minutes for a Sabre tonight, 27 minutes and 39 seconds (http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20162017/TV021071.HTM). Even though Buffalo was down four defensemen heading into tonight’s game, Rasmus still played a solid game. He assisted on Jack Eichel’s power play goal…but unfortunately he didn’t cover his man, Detroit’s Tomas Tatar, well enough, which earned him a -1 for the game. But that’s a minor detail.

On a final note, I’m glad the Buffalo Sabres won, especially for my friend Alex’s sake. He and his wife Carol got to leave Joe Louis Arena without doing the “Walk of Shame.” Alex texted me, “We were high-fiving other Sabres fans on the way out!”

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