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Sabres Win Fifth in a Row

Sabres 5 – Penguins 1 (en) Buffalo scored two short-handed, one power play, one even strength, and one empty net goal to beat their Eastern Conference nemesis Penguins in Pittsburgh.

This game was not without controversy as Pittsburgh’s (C) Malkin who played only six shifts and only 38 seconds into the second period was booted out of the game for his two-handed chop with his stick against Sabres Captain (D) Dahlin head/neck resulting in a five-minute Buffalo power play.

Evgeni Malkin gets game misconduct for slashing Rasmus Dahlin | ESPN NHL – YouTube

The ensuing five-minute power play produced the Sabres second goal as Buffalo (C) Norris scored when Pittsburgh’s (D) Letang was pushing Sabres (RW) Doan into his goaltender before the puck reached the Sabres center and the Pittsburgh Head Coach unsuccessfully used his coach’s challenge to prevent the score.

It took just about two minutes before Buffalo scored again with their second short-handed goal as Sabres (D) Power launched a shot from near the blue line and Sabres (RW) Tuch tipped the shot into the net for the 3-1 lead and less than four minutes later Sabres (D) Power also scored giving the Sabres a 4-1 lead they took into the third period.

The icing on the rink was watching Sabres (D) Samuelsson turning and whipping a shot from his right faceoff circle that rolled all the way down the ice into the Pittsburgh empty net for the 5-1 lead with approximately four minutes remaining in the game.

Buffalo’s (C) McLeod scored the game’s first goal shorthanded his fifth of the season which leads the NHL, the Sabres are now 27-4-1 when scoring first, Buffalo penalty killers stopped all five Penguins power plays, and the Sabres nearly won 60% of all faceoffs, a solid road victory before returning home for a five-game homestand beginning this Saturday afternoon at 5:30 pm EST versus the Nashville Predators.

Gold Medalists Honored

Sabres 3 – Knights 2 Buffalo is now 26-4-1 when scoring the game’s first goal, and Buffalo (LW) Zucker scored his 16th of the year to put the Sabres ahead 1-0 four minutes into the first period, Sabres (D) Power scored just 46 seconds into the second period and five minutes after that Sabres Gold Medalist (C) Thompson scored his 33rd or the season giving Buffalo the 3-0 lead with 14 minutes remaining in the second period when all of a sudden the Knights score twice in approximately two minutes climbing within one goal of Buffalo.

But all for naught, as Buffalo held sin city to 6 SOG during the third period and Sabres (G) Lyon rebuked the Knights half a dozen SOG to preserve the first win in the two game regular season series between these two teams which resumes March 17th in Nevada for game two.

The Buffalo Sabres travel to Pennsylvania to play the Pittsburgh Penguins tomorrow night 7 pm EST, then return home to settle in for a five-game home stand beginning this Saturday afternoon at 5:30 pm EST versus the Nashville Predators.

QUICK READ RECAPS

Kraken 2 – Hurricanes 1 The Eastern Conference leader, Carolina Hurricanes with 82 points, on the road faced off against the Pacific Division third place seeded Seattle Kraken (67 points) at Climate Activist Arena and could not crack Kraken (G) Daccord except once on 36 SOG as Seattle wins the game with only 15 SOG and tied the regular season series with Carolina at one apiece.

Stars 6 – Canucks 1 In another imbalanced SOG road game Dallas outshoots Vancouver 37 to 14 and creates a new Dallas Stars record for consecutive victories at nine, former Sabres and current Canucks (LW) Kane scored the game’s first goal, and another Sabres alumni Canucks (D) Myers was held out of the lineup for “roster management purposes”.

Red Wings 4 – Predators 2 Detroit continues to keep up with the Sabres as the Red Wings tied Buffalo in the standings with 76 points but the Sabres have one game in hand and sit in second place in the Atlantic Division with Detroit seeded third in the division.

Blue Jackets 5 – Rangers 4 (OT) The Broadway Blueshirts continue to solidify their position in the basement of the Eastern Conference losing at home in a game where each team earned only one penalty, but Columbus scored on their power play and shorthanded on the Rangers power play.

Down 4-0 after the second period New York came alive and scored four times in the third period on 17 SOG to tie the game and send it into overtime when the Blue Jackets scored a minute into the OT session for the win.

Flyers 3 – Maple Leafs 2 (SO) Both teams have a slim to outside chance of earning a wild card seeding, but still possible as each team earned at least a point and continue to climb positively in the standings.

Avalanche 4 – Kings 2 Even Los Angeles fans could not keep up with the new guys, an interim head coach’s first game, a defensemen’s first game and goal, plus two forwards having NHL debuts, but all for naught as the winningest team in the NHL continues to feast on their weak Western Conference foes.

Here along the Lake The game tonight could be a night of healing between imbittered Sabres fans and estranged Knights Gold Medalist (C) Eichel as the Sabres and Gold Medalist (C) Thompson host Las Vegas in the first home game since the Olympics ended so successfully, with puck drop downtown this evening at 7pm EST.

Sabres Score Quickly & Often

Sabres 6 – Lightning 2 Buffalo Sabres Captain (D) Dahlin scored the game’s first goal from near the top of the faceoff circle five and a half minutes into the first period then 50 seconds later Sabres (C) Norris scored giving Buffalo a 2-0 lead when less than two minutes after that (C) Norris scores again on a deflection lifting the Sabres to a 3-0 lead, and with about five minutes remaining in the period Sabres (C) Thompson scored to make it 4-0 heading into intermission.

Buffalo (G) Luukkonen had an outstanding performance earning a .947% save percentage while facing 38 Lightning SOG, Sabres (D) Metsa produced his first NHL multi-point game and earned the third star of the game, with this victory last night the Sabres continue to solidify their playoff aspirations and next up is a home-game versus the Golden Knights on March 3rd 7pm, with a possible gold medal celebration to honor Sabres (C) Thompson & Knights (C) Eichel.

Road Victory in Florida

Sabres 3 – Panthers 2 (en) The Buffalo Sabres have now beaten the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions twice on the road this February, last night the Sabres scored on the power play, even-strength, empty net, and even scored the Panthers second goal as Buffalo won the game and the regular season series with their conference foe, three games to one.

Sabres (C) Thompson and (C) McLeod each earned their 31st assist of the season, (RW) Tuch scored his 23rd goal on the power play, (LW) Malenstyn broke the 1-1 tie with his goal earning the game’s first star as Buffalo’s fourth line played exceptionally well, (G) Lyon earned an impressive .966% save percentage and the game’s second star backstopping Buffalo to another road victory.

Once again, this month the Sabres visit Tampa Bay to take on the Lightning and finish their three-game road trip tonight at 7 pm and last night’s win versus Florida vaulted the Sabres into sixth place overall in the NHL and second place in the Atlantic Division, even though the division rival Red Wings have a similar record to the Sabres, its Buffalo that has a +21 goal differential compared to Detroit sitting at zero.