Buffalo Sabres: What made each overtime win special in March?
By Sion Fawkes
Knocking off Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh Penguins have been the NHL’s most stable franchise for over a decade while the Sabres served time as the league’s most unstable. And that’s with two expansion teams joining the NHL.
Like the Canucks game, a back-and-forth affair against a team with arguably the best NHL player of the 21st century was once upon a time a guaranteed loss for the Sabres. Especially after franchise cornerstone Kris Letang knotted the game at three thanks to assists from Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
When overtime hit, most in the KeyBank Center held onto hope the Sabres could, somehow, win this thing. Overtime came and went, and the game remained knotted at three. Then budding cornerstones Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch had other ideas.
Like the previous contest, knocking off the mighty Pittsburgh Penguins in a nail-biter also showed growth. Tommers and Tuch proved it, but overall, it was a team effort to take one of the NHL’s best into overtime, match them blow for blow, and come away with the W.
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While their power play and penalty kill still need a lot of work, the Sabres outshot the Penguins, and won the face-off battle 52-48. They weren’t aggressive, but they also showed that even a so-so day on defense no longer guarantees a blowout loss.
(Statistics provided by NHL.com)