Buffalo Sabres prove they can dominate, play 60 effective minutes
By Sion Fawkes
The Buffalo Sabres rocked and rolled as the Goatheads made their triumphant return to the ice in a big win over the New York Islanders.
Wow, the Buffalo Sabres needed a big win and they got one as the Goatheads debuted what was a huge win over the New York Islanders. Just one week ago, the Black and Red faced the Isles and were forced to play catch-up hockey. But tonight, the Sabres displayed some sensational defense and finally got the pucks into the net offensively late in the second frame.
They outshot the Islanders 14 to 7 after one, before they put up 17 more in the second, and another 12 in the third. One of the biggest issues Buffalo had in their first four games was their hesitancy to crash the net, and that wasn’t a problem tonight. To be honest, if they weren’t facing such a defensive-oriented team, they’d have scored six goals.
The Sabres, from this point onward, shouldn’t hesitate to get bodies in front of and around the crease, especially against opponents with strong defense and goaltending. And speaking of strong defense – man, did the Black and Red look good without the puck?!
Buffalo Sabres ride a strong defense, goaltending, in big win over the Islanders
At the time of this writing, the Sabres allowed just 25 shots on goal, constantly clogging up passing lanes and preventing the Isles from getting many good looks on goaltender Eric Comrie. And Comrie, back in his comfort zone as a netminder called upon every few games, had one heck of a night, stopping 24 of 25 shots on goal for an amazing 0.960 save percentage.
He only allowed one goal, but it banked off of Connor Clifton, who’s had a few bounce off of him this season in the early going. But hey, no one’s complaining with a near-shutout, especially given how badly the defense played just two days ago in its loss to the Calgary Flames.
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Overall, the Buffalo Sabres proved they could play not just 60 minutes of effective hockey, but that they could crash opposing nets, take away scoring chances, and snag a W. Now, it’s onto whether they can make it two-for-two vs. the Montreal Canadiens.
(Statistics provided by NHL.com)