DON’T GET ME STARTED watched the Sabres hold on to a lead for 18 and a half minutes, then Brian Campbell tied it with a long shot that beat Miller.
After a scoreless overtime, Buffalo dominated the shootout with two scores by Vanek and Pominville to give Buffalo 2 points. However, they could not squeak past Florida in the standings since the Panthers got one point and they are tied for 13th in the Conference standings.
The trip south was a good one. After beating Tampa Bay, the Sabres traveled to Miami to take on the Florida Panthers and used a 3-goal first period to lead for most of the game until Florida tied it at 18:34 of the third period to send it to overtime and the shootout.
Until Campbel scored the 3rd period goal, all the scoring came in the first period as Buffalo took a 2-0, then a 3-2 lead.
Nathan Gerbe, mired in a scoring slump finally found the back of the net with a pair of first period goals while Tyler Ennis netted the other goal – on a power play.
As for Ryan Miller – he might be referred to as “Mr. Freeze-it.” Especially in a 16 save second period. Anytime the puck came near him, he would freeze it for a faceoff. That trend continued in the third period as Buffalo was holding on to the one-goal lead. But the one that beat him so late in the game couldn’t be squeezed as it whizzed by him.
The Panthers had a wide advantage on shots on goal with Florida taking 42 shots while Buffalo managed only 21 on the combination of Clemmensen and Theodore.
The Sabres hope that unlike the last two times they won two in a row, losing streaks followed that dropped Buffalo down in the Conference standings.
So recently Buffalo has faced the NY Islanders, Winnipeg Jets, Tampa and Florida – not the greatest opposition. Now, it will be getting tougher as they will start with a Saturday game against the New Jersey Devils. Then they will play games against Montreal, Toronto, the Rangers, Ottawa, Philadelphia – all teams that are regarded as the better ones in the Conference. They will be chasing probably playoff bound teams.
Carolina, Toronto, Rangers, Islanders, Ottawa and Boston all picked up points Thursday night.
If the 2-game winning streak is any indication that Buffalo might be turning it around, then fans may get back some of the confidence in the team they lost during the first 20 games of the season.
The Sabres scored first as Nathan Gerbe notched his first goal of the season on a long shot after skating into the zone from the right side giving Buffalo a 1-0 lead after 6 and half minutes of play.
Buffalo increased its lead on a power play goal off the stick of Tyler Ennis who wrested his 7th of the season off a Vanek feed.
Florida answered at 14:24 when Drew Shore scored his 2nd on a power play and less than a minute later Marcel Goc tied the game with a wrist shot. However Buffalo regained the one goal lead on the second of the game by Gerbe at 16:46.
With 1:30 left in the game and the faceoff in the Buffalo zone. The puck came back to the point where former Sabre great Brian Campbell blasted a slap shot that beat Miller to tie the game at 3-3. That sent the game into overtime. There was no scoring in the OT.
In the shootout, Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville scored goals while Miller made 2 stops to give Buffalo its 2 points.
The team returns to Buffalo for a Saturday night game against the New Jersey Devils.
Filed under: Don't Get Me Started
Tagged with: All Sports WNY, Art Wander, Buffalo Sabres 4 Florida Panthers 3, Buffalo Sports, NHL
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