The good, the bad, and the ugly in the Buffalo Sabres loss to New Jersey
By Sion Fawkes
The ugly – 20 minutes of horrific play, especially offensively
Sure, there were bad calls that didn’t go the Buffalo Sabres way at times, but the Blue and Gold also did themselves no favors in the third period next to what was at one point a game-tying goal from Dylan Cozens. The fact is, when you log just four shots on net in one period, it doesn’t matter who you are – you’re not winning many games.
When you mishandle and turn the puck over on the power play against one of the league’s worst penalty kill units and allow a short-handed goal, you also aren’t winning many games. The Sabres also turned the puck over plenty of times in their own zone and in the neutral zone, and it took away plenty of scoring chances from a team that looked like it was rediscovering its high-octane game.
More. Matt Savoie captures first professional hockey goal in Amerks win last night. light
If the Sabres try playing the Colorado Avalanche this way, they won’t lose the game 5-4. Remember that epic meltdown vs. the Dallas Stars in March? Yeah, it will end up somewhere along those lines, so this is an issue the Sabres need to fix now.
Source: Observations: Badly outplayed in the third by Devils, Sabres now have to ponder goalie injuries by Mike Harrington, Buffalo News
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)