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The Buffalo Sabres bounced back from Thursday night’s loss to the Detroit Red Wings to win the in-state matchup against the New York Rangers 3-2. Carter Hutton got the nod in Friday’s matchup and looked much better than his previous outing against the Colorado Avalanche, where he was mercy pulled.
Zemgus Girgensons opened the scoring midway through the first period on a great drive to the net, beating the Ranger defender and deking past Alexander Georgiev.
What a difference in Colin Miller’s game over the last ten. He uses his skating to gain the blue line, draw in the defenders and make a nice backhand pass to Girgensons. It hasn’t been easy for Miller, but this is the sort of play he can bring to his team and hopefully he sticks around beyond deadline day so Sabres fans can see more of it.
The Sabres doubled their lead just under five minutes into the second courtesy of Sam Reinhart, who picked up his 20th of the season (3rd straight 20 goal season).
Jimmy Vesey shows some good hand-eye to knock the attempted pass down and Jack Eichel’s patience was good but the finish from Reinhart is terrific. A backhand goal top shelf is much rarer these days so this one may deserve a second watch through.
The top line continued to perform in the third as this time Vesey would get in on the goal scoring action, netting his 8th against his former team and giving the Sabres a 3-0 lead.
Eichel makes a nice heads up pass and Vesey takes full advantage of the Rangers defenders being caught flat footed.
The Rangers were able to mount a bit of a comeback and give the Sabres a scare in the final few minutes of the third. Artemi Panarin would help set up Mika Zibanejad for his 22nd of the season to break Hutton’s shutout bid.
Ideally, you’d like to see Rasmus Dahlin tie up Zibanejad here or at least get something on the pass. Having said that, there are very few forwards who can make this pass on their backhand to begin with and unfortunately, Panarin is one of them.
With Rasmus Ristolainen in the box, the Rangers cashed in on the power play as Chris Kreider just barely gets one past Hutton and the goal line to cut the deficit to one.
Henri Jokiharju does well to get his stick on the pass attempt to the slot but unfortunately for him this puck settles down right in front with two Rangers forwards on the door step. By the time Jokiharju gets back on his feet, Kreider is able to get this puck just past Hutton and barely over the line.
The Sabres were able to hang on in the final 1:40 to take the two points in regulation
(moneypuck.com)
(naturalstattrick.com)
Notes:
Of course, after back to back games of doubling their opponents 5-on-5 XG and coming up short thanks to poor goaltending, the Sabres come back with this type of game. Hutton was very good and he needed to be, as the timeline shows. The Sabres effectively stopped trying to score after two periods and instead of shutting it down, they just shut down. The Rangers were not only able to generate far more shot attempts, but better scoring chances too. It’s a risky defensive tactic that nearly resulted in a meltdown for Ralph Krueger’s team.
Jeff Skinner was bumped down to the fourth line and saw just one of the seven face-offs he was on the ice for 5v5 in the offensive zone. If they’re trying to help Skinner find his offensive touch again, this probably isn’t the way to do it. Perhaps it’s simply an attempt to get him to give a little a more each shift but his usage is definitely worth monitoring over the next few games.
Sam Reinhart now has 14 goals at 5v5, putting him in a tie for 21st in the NHL with players like Patrik Laine, Timo Meier and Patrick Kane. He’s also the only skater on the Sabres who is top 30 in both 5v5 goals and primary assists. Reinhart boasts the highest shot attempts/60 relative to his teammates and while there’s no denying the benefits of playing with Jack Eichel, his on ice impact shows a player who is contributing quite a bit to that top line as well.
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