If any goal does actually deserve top honors, it has to be this beauty below. Tyler Ennis returned to form in the second half of the year and fired plenty of pucks into the net; but none were as smooth as his one-man effort in stick-handling around Habs defenseman Andrei Markov and freezing goaltender Carey Price.
Another former Sabre making an appearance here is Zack Kassian—with a determined drive through the Philadelphia zone. Kassian takes the puck at center ice and never stops from there, even while encircled by four Flyers. There’s nothing pretty about it, but the kid got the job.
This one is fun for a few reasons; 1. Derek Roy pulls off some undeniably slick moves to keep the puck in his possession; 2. This particular game with the Jets was a back-and-forth, raucous affair, and those are always more memorable when your team wins them, but most importantly; 3. This was the night when Rick Jeanneret was inducted in the Sabres Hall of Fame, so it was only fitting for him to call a wild Buffalo goal to close out the contest.
This next video will serve the next two goals on the list.The first comes at 1:10, courtesy of Corey Tropp. After sneaking behind the Tampa Bay defense, Tropp finishes with a flurry of stick-handles before scoring. Before this score, Tropp had a pair of eerily-similar tallies against the Hershey Bears while playing with Rochester, both of which went viral on Youtube.
“When you need a big one, you get it from a little one!”. RJ’s call was a classic in this one. Nathan Gerbe was so fast on his skates that he actually crossed Andy Sutton before the Edmonton defenseman could use the angle to close him off. A nifty backhand later, which Nikolai Khabibulin didn’t have a chance at, and a Sabres win was secured. On top of everything else, Gerbe even took out the referee in the corner. Watch the aftermath for proof.