Buffalo Sabres goaltender Craig Anderson had one of the best games of his career, saving 52 out of 53 shots on net in a pivotal win over Florida.
Last night, the Buffalo Sabres stormed into Tampa and upset the Lightning in an improbable overtime thriller. And tonight, they skated into Sunrise and stifled the Florida Panthers, despite allowing 53 shots on net.
But Sabres goaltender Craig Anderson wasn’t having it. After a remarkable performance in relief of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in Tuesday night’s loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Anderson stepped back between the pipes and the 41-year-old did not disappoint, saving 52 of those 53 shots for a save percentage of 0.981.
It was a legendary performance for Anderson, who has played like a man ten years younger than his chronological age numerous times this season. And even more, his big game put the Buffalo Sabres (64 points) into the second wild card slot with 25 games remaining in the regular season.
Anderson’s performance fueled the Buffalo Sabres to a huge win
Of course, the win still required a team effort. Despite the number of shots, the Sabres physicality carried over into this one, finishing 24 checks on the Panthers compared to the latter’s 22. Once again, Buffalo played a smarter game and often forced Florida into making poor decisions with the puck.
It was a game where the Panthers miscues dug them into a deeper hole time and again. And the Sabres capitalized just enough to take a 3-1 lead in the game’s 50th minute thanks to a Jeff Skinner goal.
What made this game, and this back-to-back series significant though, was the fact the Sabres were able to skate into a road environment when few gave them much of a fighting chance thanks to their miscues this month that culminated with an embarrassing loss on Tuesday night. It was a a momentum shifter the team needed, and it showed that with more physical play, great goaltending, and playing a smart game, that these Sabres can hang and compete with anybody.
Now, it’s time to see if Buffalo can hang onto that playoff spot. Whether they manage to or not remains a mystery, but for the youngest team in the league expected to go nowhere this season, to be in such a position with 25 games left is a pretty good accomplishment if you ask me.
(Statistics provided by NHL.com)
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