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Sour Eichel Held Pointless in Loss to Sabres

March 10, 2022, 11:27 PM ET [846 Comments]
Hank Balling
Buffalo Sabres Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Buffalo Sabres beat Jack Eichel and the Vegas Golden Knights 3-1 on Thursday night at KeyBank Center. Former Vegas players Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch both scored for the blue and gold, while former Sabres captain Jack Eichel failed to record a point as Sabres fans vociferously booed the former captain every time he touched the puck.

That evidently brought out the worst in Eichel, as evidenced by his postgame remarks.

“I’m pretty happy it’s over; let’s move on,” Eichel said during his postgame media availability. “That’s about the loudest I’ve heard this place ever. Really! It only took seven years and me leaving for them to get into the game.”

He wasn’t done after that comment.

“There (were) plenty of people here that were supporting me, and there were plenty of people here who were booing me. So, they must be booing me because they wish I was still here. I don’t know.”

It’s fair to go out on a limb and say the people who were booing him do not - in fact - want Jack Eichel back on the Sabres.

His low-road approach to a mixed response perfectly exemplifies the sort of sour attitude that never resonated well with a portion of the Sabres fan base. It’s true: Sabres fans did absolutely boo him every time he touched a puck. It’s also true that almost everyone in the building cheered him during the first period as the team played a montage of his work dedicated to helping sick kids when he was a Buffalo Sabre.

It was a generous and saavy move by the Sabres organization to substitute an Eichel goal compilation with a montage showing Eichel’s work with kids in the community. A goal compilation would be easy to boo. Helping sick kids shows the best of Eichel. And for that, he was rightly applauded by the overwhelming majority of those in attendance.

Still, that nice moment was overshadowed by Eichel’s sour grapes attitude after the game, and Craig Rivet, himself a former Sabres captain, was unsurprised by Eichel’s comments.

“Is everyone really that surprised with Jack’s comments?” Rivet tweeted. "Really? Have we not watched his spoiled brat interviews for years! No surprise here. What a joke.”

In any case, Eichel’s return ended very uneventfully for him. He recorded zero points and a -1 rating in 17:50 played. He never truly displayed his trademark stride and speed up the ice as he had in Buffalo, and with 7 points in 11 games this year, it’s fair to say that the Golden Knights have probably expected more from him offensively. With both Krebs and Tuch scoring, it’s easy to connect the dots and see why Eichel was upset post game, especially when considering how things went for him down the stretch in this game.

Eichel may have had different things to say if his team had won, or he had recorded a point. It probably also didn’t help that Eichel had his lunch money stolen on Tuch’s game-sealing empty netter. Tuch received a hardaround pass and cruised by Eichel on the right-wing side before cashing the third goal of the night on a bad-angle shot.

Peyton Krebs also recorded a goal, his fourth of the season, on a nifty feed from Vinny Hinostroza early in the first. Still, the game game was very much in doubt in third period as Ben Hutton tied the game at one apiece with a floating wrist shot from the point that may have deflected off Peyton Krebs’s stick.

It was anyone’s game from there, but the fans in attendance may have made the difference

The atmosphere in the arena was undoubtedly the best of the year. Fans were engaged from the first puck drop and they were absolutely in a mood to boo. The referees received plenty of that anger in the first period as the Sabres were called for three infractions compared to just one for the Golden Knights. That penalty discrepancy would ultimately even out, though, as it tends to happen in the NHL.

Jonathan Marchessault took a slashing penalty against Mattias Samuelsson late in the third period and the Sabres would capitalize on the ensuing powerplay as Victor Olofsson scored his 10th of the year from the top of the left faceoff circle on a beautiful feed from alternate captain Kyle Okposo.

Jack Eichel didn’t show a lot of the beautiful stride and upright skating style that he was known for in Buffalo during this game. Maybe he’ll get that back in time. For one night at least, though, the Sabres look like they did pretty well for themselves in the Jack Eichel trade, and Eichel did himself no favors in the court of public opinion.

For his sake, and the sake of his new team, his points and the Knights’ wins better start doing the talking.
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