Oct

19

Tonight turned out to be exactly the opposite of what everyone was expecting. Almost the entire first half of the game could be described as a murky mess of half-sleep. Passes had trouble making it to their intended destinations, the defense was out of position, and everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Granted, it appeared that Columbus was just playing better hockey than the Sabres, which made the mediocre look worse than it really was. Still, though, defensive plays were quite disappointing and Ryan Miller was faced with a lot of shots that he otherwise would not have had to face. He was solid in net, as always, and his saves included one on a penalty shot against Rick Nash. The main problem with the game was the amount of penalties taken by the Sabres. Although they were able to effectively kill off the majority of them, constantly being on the penalty kill meant that offensive opportunities were lost.

The last period of the game showed some promise early on, with Buffalo generating some energy and scoring chances. Half of the shots were wide or deflected, which just added to the frustration for fans and players alike. The neverending replays of the first two goals just showed how the defense allowed the Blue Jackets to walk in on Miller. Perhaps we all were expecting another come-from-behind offensive attack, but it was not meant to be. To add insult to injury, the Blue Jackets scored an empty net goal off of a bad pass with about a minute to go, sealing their victory at 3-0 and dealing the Sabres the wrong end of a shutout.

The Sabres’ next game is tomorrow, October 20th, at 7:00 PM against the Montreal Canadiens.


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