SABRES RETURN WITH ROUT OF RANGERS
After two weeks off, the Sabres returned to the ice on Saturday and lit the lamp more times than they had in any game all season. Buffalo treated a sellout crowd to an 8-2 beat down of the New York Rangers.
Five goals in the first period was certainly one way to come off the break, chasing Igor Shesterkin from the Rangers’ crease after twenty minutes. Jack Quinn, Ryan McLeod, and Tage Thompson each netted a goal in the first, while Rasmus Dahlin struck twice from the blue line, picking up right where the captain left off with Team Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Following a goaltending change for New York, the visitors got to their game, scoring two goals in the middle frame. Two more players that represented their country, American Chris Kreider and Swede Mika Zibanejad beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, cutting into the deficit for the Rangers. Flashbacks for a 4-0 blown lead to the Colorado Avalanche began swirling throughout the minds of Sabres fans, having seen Buffalo blow more leads than 30 other teams this season.
Saturday, the Sabres did not fall flat on their faces, instead, they got three shots past Jonathan Quick in the third period to cap off the game and put a plug in any comeback the blue shirts were scheming. Tage Thompson and Ryan McLeod each added another goal on the night, before Henri Jokiharju scored the final insurance marker for Buffalo, securing the 8-2 win.
While he didn’t play in any games for Team Finland at the Four Nations Face-Off, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen practiced with his home country’s squad for the last two weeks. He looked fresh, yet rested in his return to the starters net, posting 26 saves on the 28 shots he faced. Luukkonen and the Sabres allowed one power play goal despite sending the Rangers to the man advantage four times throughout the night.
All three players that the Sabres had played in the Four Nations Face-Off came back to Buffalo and set the tone, and the one player that felt snubbed proved his value. With Dahlin, Jokiharju and Luukkonen each getting little to no time away from the rink these last two weeks, and having been involved in one high talent level, high intensity level games, they lifted the Sabres to victory Saturday.
On top of that, with two goals, an assist and most notably, three hits on the evening, Tage Thompson was sure to prove that he should’ve been on Team USA’s roster for the recent Tournament with the GM of the Rangers, and Roster-builder for Team USA Chris Drury having a front row seat. Objectively, the Sabres are playing well as of late, having won five of their last six games.
For Buffalo, they remain at home, with the Anaheim Ducks in town Tuesday night. Puck drop from KeyBank Center is at 7PM.
BANDITS SQUEAK OUT BOUNCE-BACK AT SAN DIEGO
Despite a boatload of injuries to their defensemen, the Buffalo Bandits persevered and avenged their only loss of the season, defeating the San Diego Seals, 13-12, in California on Saturday night.
A week after the Seals handed Buffalo their first loss this year, 14-13, the Bandits had a week to prepare solely for San Diego as their lone opponent this weekend. In their last two games, the Bandits made a poor habit of starting slow, falling behind by at least four goals off the start of the game in each of their games last week. That trend ended Saturday as Buffalo and San Diego played an extremely balanced first quarter, with the Seals up 5-4; no lead in the first was larger than one goal. The second frame saw two power play goals for San Diego, with a pair of Bandits tallies after each. San Diego tied the game at 8 before halftime hit, wiping the score back to even before the second 30 minute half began.
In the third, the Seals came out swinging, pumping in two goals in the first two minutes out of the locker rooms, taking a 10-8 lead. Smith and Nanticoke buried goals on the man-up for Buffalo, sandwiched by a MacKay marker in response, giving Buffalo an 11-10 edge. Again, though, in the final minute of the third quarter, San Diego tied the game. Clay Scanlan’s goal five minutes into the fourth had Buffalo in the driver's seat, for a solid stretch of defensive play, led by goalie Matt Vinc, who ended the game with 38 saves. The Seals would once again tie the game up, 12-12 with 4:49 left, but just twenty-four second later, the Bandits’ Kyle Buchanan capped off his hat trick with his third goal of the game, which would stand to be the game winner. What a thrilling victory for Buffalo; and with the way these two split the season series, I would not be surprised if that’s not the last time the Bandits and Seals see each other in 2025.
Buffalo heads back on the road this weekend for a meeting in Saskatchewan with the Rush on Saturday night.
PWHL TOOK OVER BUFFALO, PUT ON A SHOW AS BOSTON BEATS NEW YORK
The Professional Women’s Hockey League took over KeyBank Center yesterday for a regular season game between the Boston Fleet and New York Sirens. What a show the teams put on for the mostly split fan base, as Boston came from behind to win 3-2 in a thrilling shootout.
The Sirens took a 2-1 lead after one period, as the “home” team at the neutral site, but you couldn’t tell this game was in New York with the number of fans in green and signs supporting Hilary Knight, Boston’s team captain. The Fleet tied the game in the second before their goalie Aerin Frankel and her opposition down the ice Kayle Osborne stood on their heads, combining for a total of 67 saves throughout the game. After a scoreless third and overtime periods, Boston’s Susanna Tapani scored the lone goal in the shootout, giving the Fleet the win.
The total attendance announced was 8,512. For reference, the LECOM HarborCenter’s feature rink holds a capacity crowd of just over 1,800. Why compare to the smaller rink across the street? Well, HarborCenter is where the Buffalo Beauts called home for a number of seasons last decade before folding due to, among other things, lack of fan attendance. Could this crowd be something worth looking at for PWHL expansion or was it a large crowd because it was a one-off game? We shall see relatively soon, as news on where the PWHL plans their next teams is rumored to be on the way in the coming months.
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