FINAL: BUF 2 COL 0
SHOTS: BUF 32 COL 23
POWER PLAY: BUF 1/3 COL 0/0
HITS: BUF 16 COL 17
BLOCKED SHOTS: BUF 14 COL 11
GOALS:
BUF: Sam Reinhart (13) assisted by Rasmus Ristolainen (30) and Ryan O’Reilly (25)
BUF: Evander Kane (19) assisted by Evan Rodrigues (2) and Jack Eichel (18)
LINES:
Bailey-O’Reilly-Okposo
Kane-Eichel-Reinhart
Foligno-Rodrigues-Gionta
Moulson-Grant-Ennis
McCabe-Ristolainen
Gorges-Kulikov
Falk-Bogosian
Lehner
Recap:
The Sabres are coming off of a huge 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night. Tonight they faced the worst team in the league, the Colorado Avalanche.
The Sabres completely dominated the Avs in the 1st period. They had quite a few scoring chances and they looked fantastic on the power play. Justin Bailey and Evan Rodrigues looked very good and should probably stick around for the rest of the season. Justin Bailey has shown massive growth from his last call up to now. His speed was deadly in that 1st period and he drew a penalty because of it. He fits very well with Ryan O’Reilly and Kyle Okposo. Rodrigues also showed a ton of speed in the 1st and in my opinion he’s a better option at the 4th line center position than Derek Grant. Eichel also broke Nathan MacKinnon’s ankles.
The Sabres struck early in the 2nd period on the power play. Sam Reinhart beat Calvin Pickard between his legs while his back was facing the net. That was Reinhart’s 13th goal of the season.
Derek Grant suffered a shoulder injury in the 2nd period and didn’t return to the game.
It was a very uneventful 3rd period. But with 5 minutes to go in regulation time, Evander Kane walked around Barberio and Beauchemin and then he beat Pickard 5 hole to give the Sabres a late 2 goal lead.
With the Sabres’ win tonight, the Sabres now sit 3 points back of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 2nd wild card playoff spot in the east. The Sabres will face the St. Louis Blues on Saturday evening and they face the Chicago Black Hawks on Sunday. These next 2 games are crucial for the the Sabres. I’d like them to get at least 3 out of 4 points in those 2 games.
