Buffalo Sabres tank on the second half of back-to-back at Pittsburgh
By Sion Fawkes
The Buffalo Sabres looked like a team that had left their A-game in the City of Good Neighbors following a 4-0 shutout loss.
So much for being over 0.500, as that lasted for a good 24 hours. The good news following the Buffalo Sabres shutout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins is that the game is officially over, because it’s hopefully one of those rare games of the season where we can say absolutely nothing good happened.
Okay, maybe that’s a stretch, as the Sabres did log 35 shots on goal, but shots on goal doesn’t always mean they’re high-quality. Still though, the Blue and Gold needed a game where they got pucks to the net. So yeah, mission accomplished…sort of… Now, the time’s come to start converting more of those into goals.
Another good takeaway? At least Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen looked good in the net, saving 36 of 39 shots on goal for a 0.923 save percentage. And yes, before you point out the obvious, Luukkonen allowed one goal he should have saved in the second frame.
As for the one late in the first, it was a bad bounce. In the third, the Sabres have had issues with opponents scoring in the first minute of the period, so I’m not putting a ton of blame on him there.
Buffalo Sabres need to move on to Boston following 4-0 shutout
What you read in the above section were basically takeaways that you can just salvage out of a loss like this. But the power play once again struggled, and the PK allowed yet another goal – 27 seconds into the third period, mind you.
And just one night after finishing something in the realm of 15 for 55 in faceoffs, the Sabres gave us an encore presentation by finishing 16 for 47 on the faceoff dot. So yeah, it was yet another miserable performance that sooner than later, needs to be addressed.
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Luckily, Buffalo has a couple of days off to regroup before their big home game vs. one of the league’s best teams in the Boston Bruins. If they plan on hanging around in that game, they may want to show up ready to play, because Boston will put up 10 goals if they give us a repeat of what happened tonight.
(Statistics provided by NHL.com)