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Looking California, But Feelin’ Minnesota |
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No lead is safe against the pesky Buffalo Sabres.
Opponents of every quality and echelon are realizing that the Sabres are a team that bends under adversity but never breaks.
On Tuesday night, the Sabres trailed led the Tampa Lightning and found a way through stifling team D and excellent goaltending to forge a comeback in the second period.
The Sabres defeated the Bolts.
On Friday night in Winnipeg, the Sabres rode red hot goaltending and erased a 1-0 deficit to tie the game and force overtime.
The Sabres defeated the Jets in the shootout.
Last season, a fragile Sabres squad would have caved in under the pressure of trailing by a goal or two.
Not the 2018-19 Sabres.
They hack, slash, claw and compete like no other Sabres team in recent memory.
Carter Hutton deserves huge amounts of praise for his rock solid net minding.
In his last three starts, Hutton has made 90 saves on 95 shots faced. That’s a .950 SV%.
Against Vancouver, Hutton made 36 saves on 39 (.923 SV%) shots against. Hutton made 29 saves on 30 shots (.967 SV%) against Tampa. In Winnipeg, Hutton made 25 saves on 26 shots against (.962 SV%).
On Friday night, Jeff Skinner scored his NHL leading 10th goal of the season on the road, his 14th of the season, to even the game at 1-1.
The goal is Skinner’s 400th point of his nine year NHL career.
Skinner’s magic twig erased a one-goal deficit 53 seconds into the third period.
The Jets blinked.
Then, Jack Eichel, Jason Pominville and Conor Sheary lit the lamp in the seven-round shootout.
The win over the Jets is reminiscent of the shootout win over the Vancouver Canucks last Saturday where the Sabres erased a third period deficit to force OT. The Sabres beat the upstart Canucks in the shootout.
The Sabres continue to stack points while flexing their muscles.
The Sabres have won four games in a row for the first time since December 2014. They've done it against opponents with a combined record of 44-25-8.
The Sabres are 8-2-2 in their last 12 games.
A win tonight in Minnesota would give the Buffalo its first five-game winning streak since March 19 to 27, 2012.
Don’t look now but Eichel & Company are in fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Tonight’s game is the Sabres’ 20th of the season. The team enters the game with an 11-6-2 record (24 points) through 19 games and currently ranks third in the Atlantic Division. The 24 points already tie the team’s 2011-12 start for the third-best total through 20 games since the 2005-06 season.
With a win tonight, the Sabres would have 26 points through 20 games for the first time since the 2009-10 season. Buffalo has previously posted 26 or more points through 20 games seven times in franchise history and has made the playoffs on each of those occasions.
Next stop:
Minnesota.
Casey Mittelstadt was named “Mr. Hockey” in Minnesota. He starred for one season at the University of Minnesota. Mittelstadt, the eighth overall pick at the 2017 NHL Draft, scored 11 goals and 19 assists in 30 games for the Golden Gophers.
Jason Pominville and Marco Scandella we’re traded from the Wild to Buffalo in exchange for Marcus Foligno and Tyler Ennis.
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