The Buffalo Sabres were coming off their ugliest loss of the season on Wednesday night after losing 8-3 to the Tampa Bay Lightning. However, they didn't have much time to dwell on it as they were right back on the ice Thursday night against the Chicago Blackhawks on the road.
The Sabres would get the scoring started with Owen Power beating Spencer Knight off a great pass by Josh Norris. The Blackhawks would tie it up when Frank Nazar would score on a power play but Tage Thompson took the lead back with a power play goal of his own about three minutes later.
The score would remain 2-1 until about eight minutes into the third period, when Frank Nazar would have his second goal of the night to tie it up. This game would go to overtime, and the Chicago Blackhawks would take the lead for the first time in the game and win by a final score of 3-2.
Buffalo Sabres change up their defensive pairs
While the Sabres have shuffled their defensive pairs at times during games, typically to get Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin together, they have been pretty consistent to start games. The Sabres have usually had Olen Zellweger with Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin with Mattias Samuelsson.
The Sabres knew that, coming into this game, they were going to need to make some changes, and they certainly did. Lindy Ruff decided to split the pairing of Zellweger and Power to have Conor Timmins with Power and put Zellweger with a returning Louis Crevier.
However, even with the changes, there were still too many defensive lapses that almost cost the Buffalo Sabres this game. A perfect example was late in the third period, when the Blackhawks got behind Dahlin, and all he could do was hook them right before he shot the puck.
Alex Lyon plays well in his season debut for the Buffalo Sabres
While goaltending hasn't been the Sabres' only problem this season, the duo of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Colten Ellis just hasn't been good enough. The hope was that the Sabres might do something at the position, but they might have been waiting to see what Alex Lyon could give them and whether he can provide a spark like he did last season.
Lyon made his season debut on Thursday night against the Chicago Blackhawks after suffering a shoulder injury during the preseason. The Sabres ultimately got what they were hoping for as Lyon played well and stopped 22 of 25 shots that he faced.
It will be interesting how the Sabres handle the rotation now with three goalies but Lindy Ruff should stick with the hot hand as long as possible and right now that is Lyon.
Sabres got a point but can't feel good about their performance
The Buffalo Sabres would get a point, but this was a game they needed to get two. It is just the latest example of how far off this team is from being a playoff team.
There is no question that the refs missed a penalty that should have been called on the game-winning goal but the Sabres shouldn't have even let it get to that point. The Blackhawks entered this game losing six straight and had been outscored 32 to 13.
The Sabres were able to get the lead early and had the lead going into the third period, but once again couldn't build on it. There was just no scoring or even chances as they finished with only 13 scoring chances in 5v5 situations against the Blackhawks, who were giving up over 30 scoring chances per game entering this game, according to Natural Stat Trick.
For the Sabres, it doesn't get any easier as they now travel to Dallas to play the Stars on Saturday.
Add us as a preferred source on Google