Buffalo Sabres: Thoughts From Gritty Win Over San Jose

The Buffalo Sabres finished out their west coast road trip with a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks to move to 7-1-1 on the season.

Well, you knew it was going to be a tough one, San Jose is an excellent team. But the Buffalo Sabres were able to pull out a gritty 4-3 victory in what was a very back and forth game. With the win over San Jose, Buffalo finished their west coast road trip with a 2-1 record.

The first period started out slow. The Sabres and Sharks had fairly even attacks and in the first half of the first period, neither team could find the back of the net. Finally, 12 minutes into the period the Sabres were able to score to take the early lead.

The goal was Marcus Johansson‘s fourth of the young season. The shot was created by some great skating from Henri Jokiharju who found Johansson with a good pass. Unfortunately, the lead wouldn’t last for long as just 4 minutes later Timo Meier would sneak a shot past Linus Ullmark to tie the game up 1-1.

For the rest of the first period, and the first 80% of the second period, the game turned into a defensive onslaught. Neither team could find many quality shots and both goaltenders played at their best. Then about 17 minutes into the period, the Sabres scored again to retake the lead.

The goal was Casey Mittelstadt‘s third of the season, and third in his last 2 games. Again, Jokiharju made a nice pass for his second assist of the game. The second period finished uneventfully before we got to the third.

The third period in this game was the most exciting period the Sabres have played in all season. Right out of the gate, Tomas Hertl scored to tie the game at 2 a piece. Just one minute later the Sabres answered back to again retake the lead.

The goal was Jeff Skinner‘s 5th of the season. Skinner caught the goalie out of the net and was able to slap an easy one home. However, the lead would not last very long, Marcus Sorensen would come back just 20 seconds later to retie the game. For the next ten minutes, both teams had an aggressive attack but nobody could find the back of the net. Then 12 minutes into the third Buffalo took the lead back.

It was Zemgus Girgensons first goal of the season. The infamous fourth line once again came through when Buffalo needed them most. Buffalo was able to hang on for the rest of the third to pick up the 4-3 victory.

In goal Linus Ullmark played a pretty good game. Ullmark had 29 saves on 32 shots. This game was very back and forth and was equally contested in just about every facet. The Sabres needed a win like this on enemy ice against a Stanley Cup contender. Now after going 2-1 on this road trip, the rest of the league may finally start to take notice of the Buffalo Sabres.