The Buffalo Sabres scored first in both of their road games the past two nights only to go down in flames as they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Thursday and lost to the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 last night. Snagging zero points in those contests leaves them well behind in both the division and conference playoff races.
It started out well enough last night with Will Carrier scoring his third of the season to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead after the first period, but early in the second period Carolina's Jeff Skinner single-handedly turned the tables with two goals in :55 seconds. His first one was somewhat of a gift as his long shot eluded Anders Nilsson's glove while on his second one he eluded a Sabres team on a change and blistered one past Nilsson far side right off the far post.
Four minutes later Buffalo was a complete tire-fire in their own end and the Hurricane's Brock McGinn got behind five Sabres looking lost in the box to easily slide one by Nilsson. The Sabres were a mess and it could have been worse as Nicolas Deslauriers, who was inexplicably on a line with Ryan O'Reilly and Kyle Okposo, took a foolish boarding penalty.
However, the Sabres, rather inexplicably, became aggressive on the penalty kill.
Zemgus Girgensons lead a 3-on-1 short-handed but he turned the puck over, which lead to a 4-on-1 the other way. Only the strong back-check of O'Reilly kept the 'Canes from a possible conversion, but we were given a glimpse as to how the Sabres were going to approach this PK and they were able to get their first shorthanded goal of the year on the next shift.
Evander Kane gathered the puck in his own zone and lofted a rainbow into the Carolina zone with PK-partner Brian Gionta streaking under it. 'Canes goalie Cam Ward had some trouble and tried to sweep the puck to the far side. Gionta swooped in, corralled the puck and converted on the wrap-around.
The Sabres gained some momentum from that and went into the second intermission down 3-2 but looked tired in the third period and the 'Canes swarmed them. Two goals by Carolina in the first half of the period sealed their fate despite some strong individual efforts as both Kane and O'Reilly went in on short-handed breakaways with the Sabres down 5-2 only to be stymied by Ward.
There was not much to be happy about with this one save for the aggressiveness on the penalty kill and one could say that it's about time they adopted a strategy like that. Granted, it was out of sheer desperation, but the Sabres have a lot of speed and skill on the PK. Fear is the main factor as one would think that the coaching staff is afraid to give up a goal. But with the worst penalty kill in the league and the fifth-worst goals-for in the league, why not?
Buffalo needs to figure out a way to get points by whatever means possible and if that entails an aggressive approach on the penalty kill, so be it. The season's slipping away.
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