In the next edition of How They Fared, we take a deeper dive into the two game season series between the Buffalo Sabres and San Jose Sharks
How did the Buffalo Sabres fare against the San Jose Sharks? The first of two meetings took place in Buffalo at the beginning of December. It was a good month for Buffalo as this game would be the first of eight wins for the Sabres.
The game started out well for Buffalo as Tage Thompson scored the first goal of the game on the power play just about halfway into the opening period. San Jose took a 2-1 lead after the first 20 minutes thanks to scoring two goals just a few minutes apart.
After 16 seconds into the second period, JJ Peterka tied the game up. Jeff Skinner and Jack Quinn added two more goals and the Sabres had a 4-2 lead heading into the third period. Quinn scored his second of the game but San Jose responded 29 seconds later to make it a 5-3 game.
Alex Tuch sealed the deal and Buffalo went on to win the game by a final score of 6-3. The second and final meeting happened in February. It was the Sabres final game of the California road trip and were looking to head home with two points.
Buffalo Sabres capped off successful season out West vs. Sharks
Just about three minutes into the game, Dylan Cozens scored his 20th goal of the season to make it 1-0 Buffalo but the Sharks evened the game up with a few minutes remaining. The second period had the same feel as Buffalo regained the lead but once again San Jose tied it up.
For the third time in the game, the Sabres took the lead back thanks to Jeff Skinner. Finally, they did not let San Jose respond as Tuch scored the fourth and final goal preserving the victory and Buffalo swept San Jose in 2022-23.
All time, Buffalo is 29-12-4-2 against San Jose and we will see if they keep adding on wins this upcoming season.
(Historical data provided by Hockey-Reference)