Buffalo Sabres: Thoughts From Game 10 Victory Over San Jose

The Buffalo Sabres moved to 8-1-1 after defeating the San Jose Sharks at home on Tuesday night. Here are Sabre Noise’s thoughts from the game.

What a game it was on Tuesday night, it wasn’t always pretty but somehow, someway once again this year, these Buffalo Sabres found a way to come out on top. In the first period it didn’t look promising. Buffalo went down 2-0 and were having a very hard time keeping the puck out of their own zone. Some pointed out jet lag from recently just flying back from a three game California road trip, but the excuse didn’t make sense because San Jose flew in the same time Buffalo did, so they were equally jet lagged.

Thankfully, the second period picked up the pace. The Sabres began to really put the pressure on San Jose and kept the puck out of the Buffalo zone. On Buffalo’s second power play opportunity of the evening, Captain Jack Eichel scored his 5th goal of the young season.

For Eichel it was a solid slap shot that was set up by an array of passes from the Buffalo power play. As the second carried on, Buffalo continued to keep their foot on the gas and did a good job of playing physical against San Jose.  Then with just 30 second left in the period, Rasmus Ristolainen zipped a great pass to Sam Reinhart who scored his fourth goal of the season.

The third period got under way, and Jeff Skinner scored his sixth goal of the season just 45 seconds into the period.

In the third period the game got chippy, there was a near fight up against the boards at about the halfway point. Unfortunately for Buffalo, right after the near fight San Jose tied the game 3-3. As the period went on, things really started to go in San Jose’s favor. San Jose was getting quality shots on goal and kept the puck solely in the Sabre zone.

Luckily for Buffalo, Carter Hutton who has been playing great as of late, played fantastic at the end of the game. In the first period Hutton looked a little off his game, but in the second and third came through when the Sabres needed him.

At the end of regulation the game was tied 3-3 which meant bonus hockey! In overtime the Sabres kept possession of the puck and with just over a minute left, Jack Eichel tapped in his second goal of the night to give the Sabres the win.

With the win, Buffalo moves to 8-1-1 and remains in first place in the NHL. The team played a physical game against a likely playoff team and found a way to win after falling behind. The seasons still young, but these guys are good, so far scary good.