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Sabres "B-squad" hold it's own at Toronto. Leafs in Buffalo tonight |
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If you were in the process of getting yourself a snack and/or a frosty adult beverage to take in the first game of a preseason home-and-home between the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs you missed something pretty rare. Buffalo's Andrew Oglevie pounced on a rebound off of a Casey Nelson shot to make the score 1-0 only :30 seconds into the game last night. In 82 regular season games last season the Sabres scored a minute or less into a game only twice--Justin Bailey did it exactly 1:00 into a game against the Vancouver Canucks on October 20 while Ryan O'Reilly scored :30 into a game vs. the Ottawa Senators on April 4.
Buffalo lost both of those games by the same 4-2 score.
In fact it was pretty rare for Buffalo to score an opening goal in the first period last season. They did so once in six preseason games and only 26 times in 82 regular season games.
What a jolt. What a treat. Right?
Not really. Buffalo was blitzkrieged last night after that opening marker as the Leafs slapped three quickies on the Sabres beginning :18 seconds later. Toronto's Ron Hainsey, Pierre Engvall and John Tavares all scored in a 2:54 span to give the Leafs a 3-1 lead before Buffalo gathered their senses.
Toronto did what a lot of teams did to the Sabres last season--attack with speed and pressure while Buffalo was on it's heels. The Sabres top line of Casey Mittelstadt, Alexander Nylander and Tage Thompson were victimized on the latter two goals while Toronto's top two lines were responsible for two of the three goals.
For comparison's sake, these where the team's top two lines:
Toronto
Tavares, Mitch Marner, Zach Hyman
Nazem Kadri, Connor Brown, Josh Leivo
Buffalo
Mittelstadt, Nylander, Thompson
Vladimir Sobotka, Oglevie, Zemgus Girgensons
Much to their credit, the Sabres bounced back and pulled to within one goal as Smith charged the net off the half-wall and waited patiently before depositing it past a sprawling Garrett Sparks and into a gaping Toronto net to make it 3-2.
The Sabres would eventually tie it on a beautifully wicked toe-drag/snapshot from Thompson but the Leafs answered and would tack on an empty-netter for the 5-3 win.
There's a lot to be said about this Sabres team last night as the "B-squad" group of players held their own pretty well, especially after being down. Most of the players who struggled during Toronto's 3-goal outburst settled down and played well the rest of the way, beginning with goalie Linus Ullmark.
The 25 yr. old Ullmark who's slated for backup duty in Buffalo looked shaky as the Leafs buzzed the zone. He couldn't bail out his skaters on the first two goals as turnovers in their own zone caused some Keystone Cops moments, especially amongst the defensemen. On the third goal, Ullmark kicked out a rebound that went to an unchecked Tavares who was trailing on the play. He buried it into a gaping net.
Mittelstadt lost coverage on that one and perhaps Buffalo head coach Phil Housley had seen enough as he demoted the 19 yr. old his next shift. Without singling him out, Housley told the gathered media post game, "It wasn't working. So you try to make some changes."
Housley said that his team "got some momentum" off of those changes and that they scraped their way back into the first period.
Thompson's toe drag was nasty, as shown here from Sabres.com:
The tall (6'6") but slender (205 lb.) Thompson has a long reach and the way he controls his stick is a wonder. He was another one that got off to a slow start, looked slow and was playing slow but he managed to turn things around. He had another toe drag later in the game but shot it high and wide.
Housley loved defenseman Lawrence Pilut's game, saying the defenseman was "pretty savvy and poised with the puck" and had him on the ice for a game-high 25:31 while Sobotka lead Buffalo's forwards with 21:14 of ice-time. Nylander and Thompson both topped 19 minutes but Mittelstadt played only 13:20. The wingers were a minus-3 each while Mittelstadt was a minus-2.
Smith raised some eyebrows with his goal and some real good play, Nelson was solid and did what he usually does--get his shot through. Rasmus Asplund played his two-way game and was almost always in the right place while Brendan Guhle's sketchy night was the best of the d-corps after Pilut and Nelson.
For many of these players, last night's game against Toronto will represent the last time they'll don the Blue and Gold this preseason. Buffalo has three more preseason games after tonight where they'll whittle down the roster and get ready for the opener less than two weeks away.
*****
Sabres/Leafs Part Deux continues tonight with a matchup of American phenoms Jack Eichel and Auston Matthews, respectively, and some guy named Rasmus Dahlin who will patrol the blueline for Buffalo. In addition, former contract holdout Sam Reinhart will be making his 2018 preseason debut for the Sabres as well. Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian, who had hip surgery in January, is scheduled to make his preseason debut tonight.
What the Leafs did last night featuring a large group of it's stars, Buffalo will do tonight. The Sabres' "Group A" played the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday and held on for a 3-2 win after jumping out to a 3-0 lead. Sobotka, Jake McCabe and Eichel tallied for Buffalo with Eichel's shorthanded breakaway goal showcasing his speed and deft stickwork:
(via Sabres.com)
Tonight's probable lineup from Chris Ryndak of Sabres.com:
53 Jeff Skinner - 9 Jack Eichel - 29 Jason Pominville
71 Evan Rodrigues - 10 Patrik Berglund - 23 Sam Reinhart
95 Justin Bailey - 22 Johan Larsson - 21 Kyle Okposo
20 Scott Wilson -51 Kyle Criscuolo - 65 Danny O'Regan
64 Tyler Randell
6 Marco Scandella - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
26 Rasmus Dahlin - 19 Jake McCabe
82 Nathan Beaulieu - 4 Zach Bogosian
33 William Borgen
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