Get used to it, NHL.
The Buffalo Sabres are no longer the laughingstock of the NHL.
The Ryan O'Reilly led Sabres are making believers of all of their doubters.
St. Louis Blue defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk noticed something very different about the Sabres on Thursday night. Shattenkirk said that the Sabres would not quit when the going got tough against the Blues.
“They weren’t the old Buffalo Sabres,… Shattenkirk told Scout.com.
“I think they’re a different team, they’re a much better team. They have a lot of guys in there now that kind of instill that into their young guys. I don’t think it caught us by surprise, but it was something that we realized during the game that they are not going to go away. At any moment, with the kind of skill they have up front, they can make you pay.…
Sabres fans rejoice.
NHL players no longer view the Sabres as a push over and an easy two points.
The word around the NHL is that the Buffalo Sabres will grind you and battle you for sixty to sixty five minutes. They will also trade chances with you in the 3-on-3 OT and in the shootout.
The Sabres have become an entertaining team to watch play because they refuse to roll over and die when the going gets tough in games. They are always just one shot away from fighting their way back into tight contests. They rarely get blown out. They have A-list players who score high light package goals. They are getting excellent goaltending. The D corps is big, string and skilled.
Though they lost 3-2 in the shootout in St. Louis on Thursday night, Buffalo earned a measure of respect from the big, bad Blues.
The Blues (13-6-1, 27 points) got PPGs from Shattenkirk and Vlad "The Implaer" Tarasenko.
The Blues also got sturdy and confident penalty-killing by wiping out four Buffalo man advantage situations. The Sabres failed to score on two prime 5-on-3 advantages.
Evander Kane played well in his first game back after missing ten games due to an MCL sprain that he suffered on October 24. Kane skated 20:55 TOI and took five shots on goal. He was fast, physical and played well with Jack Eichel and Samson Reinhart.
Kane came within millimeters of tying the game and pushing it to a fourth round when he slammed a shot of Jake Allen's post. No dice.
The Sabres played an inspired road game and stole a point from the Blues.
O'Reilly has been Buffalo's spiritual leader. O'Reilly skated over 25 minutes TOI, won 76% of his draws and scored his seventh goal of the season.
ROR scored his 7th goal, was 16-5 on draws (76%), took 7 shots and skated 25:06 TOI #Monster
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) November 20, 2015
ROR now has a goal in each of his last 3 games and 21 points (5G, 16A) in his last 21 road games.
O'Reilly has been better than originally billed in all phases of his game. He has become Buffalo's de facto captain on and off the ice.
Sabres GM Tim Murray wore a ski mask to the Ryan O;Reilly-Jamie McGinn trade with the Colorado Avalanche. Murray won that trade in a landslide. While Mikhail Grigoenko and Nikita Zadorov are smoothing out the rough spots in their individual games, ROR has extablished himself as one of the top two way centers in the NHL.
Blues forward Alex Steen scored a greasy goal in the third round of the shootout to give the Blues the win. At first blush, it appeared as though Steen scored on his rebound after Linus Ullmark made the initial save. After a brief review, the goal was upheld. Kevin Shattenkirk and Tarasenko scored for the Blues (13-6-1), who got 32 saves from Allen.
Sam Reinhart and O'Reilly scored goals, and Ullmark made 27 saves for the Sabres (8-9-2).
Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma liked his team's commitment and determination in St. Louis.
“We were plus-2 on the 5 on 5 tonight,… Buffalo coach Dan Bylsma said. “I thought the special teams pretty much dictated the whole game right from the beginning with the major penalty that we took. We obviously had the two 5-on-3 situations at the end of the second and in the third period but 5 on 5 we’re playing a tough team, a hard place to play, a hard place to get points and I thought we battled them pretty good minus the special teams.…
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Tyler Ennis gave the Blues a five minute power play when he earned a major penalty for boarding when he planted Blues D-man Alex Pietrangelo into the boards at the 5:00 mark of the first period. Shattenkirk took a pass from Steen and fired a slap shot from the top of the right circle past Linus Ullmark at 5:34. It was Shattenkirk's second goal of the season.
Samson Reinhart tied the game 1:31 into the second period when he grabbed a cross-ice feed from Jack Eichel and beat Allen for his fourth goal of the season.
The Blues converted on the power play at 4:28 of the second period when Tarasenko scored his team-leading 12th of the season on a wrist shot from the slot to Ullmark's stick side for a 2-1 lead
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