By now, most of the NHL universe knows that Hudson Fasching scored the game-winning goal in last night’s matchup against the Buffalo Sabres.
The Buffalo Sabres lost in controversial fashion last night to the New York Islanders. Although New York beat Buffalo in just about every phase last night, the game could have gone into overtime tied at two. Instead, Hudson Fasching’s controversial “kick in” was deemed a goal because the Situation Room determined the following:
"“It was ruled a deflection off Hudson Fasching’s shin pad and, therefore, it was determined there was no distinct kicking motion.” – Situation Room, via Buffalo News"
However, Fasching lifted his skate and his leg appeared to move slightly forward in the slow-motion replay. While it could be a judgment call either way, from my vantage point, my initial thought is that it was a kick. You don’t lift your leg like that unless you’re in the motion of delivering a kick in hockey or in any sport.
Now that we got the obvious out of the way, let’s move onto the next inquiry. Would it have even mattered?
Buffalo Sabres probably still lose this one to New York regardless
While Fasching’s lucky break proved to be the ultimate difference-maker in the Sabres 3-2 loss, let’s be honest with ourselves; Buffalo looked flat through and through.
They couldn’t win faceoffs, they couldn’t, for the most part, adjust or respond to the Islanders taking away the middle of the ice in the Sabres offensive zone, they weren’t physical, and they let the rugged Isles steal the puck from them nine times. Oh, and Buffalo never seemed to be in decent position in the offensive zone even when they did find shooting lanes, letting the Islanders block a ridiculous 32 shots.
The Sabres allowed more than a few breakaways last night, but goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen either saved them, or strong recovery speed and subsequent backchecks disrupted things. New York also had multiple shots on goal ding off the post.
At least twice, Luukkonen lost sight of the puck, only for someone to get a stick down, deflect the puck out of the crease, and keep it from finding twine. Most notably, Owen Power’s late-game save kept the Sabres from going down 4-2.
Theoretically, the Sabres could have scored late or even in overtime to beat the Isles. But even had Fasching’s no-goal stood, the odds weren’t in the Sabres favor. New York outplayed them for nearly all 60 minutes last night. It’s hard to win games when you look that bad as a team.
Source: Observations: Sabres fall to Islanders on controversial goal in third period by Mike Harrington, BuffaloNews.com