As put by Tyler Myers: “We shot ourselves in the foot.”
After a feel-good win against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday to snap a 14-game losing streak, The Buffalo Sabres return home to the First Niagara Center on Thursday only to be shutout by the St. Louis Blues 3-0.
The Sabres had chances in the game to get on the board with breakaways from players like Brian Flynn and Chris Stewart, but Jake Allen was solid for the Blues making 23 saves to register his third shutout of the season.
“We came out and played well tonight, and we didn’t get it,” Tyler Ennis said following the loss. “Those are the games you can build off. That was a good team… Confidence is a funny thing: when you get it, it seems to get going a little bit. We played well much earlier in the game, we just have to score on our chances.”
Ennis finished the game on Thursday with one shot, two hits, and a minus-2 with 17:13 of total ice-time.
“We definitely had our chances,” Stewart said. “We could’ve tied it up or take the lead in the second, but good goaltenders steal games for teams. You definitely don’t want to make that a habit, and it wasn’t good enough.”
“We came into the game showing a little too much respect. As the second period got going, we got on our toes and started forechecking hard and showed them that they are human and they are due to make mistakes. That was definitely a confidence boost, and w felt like we finished the second with the momentum on our side.We had our chances in the third in the third, but we turned it over, it was 2-0, and it was over.”
Stewart finished the night with two shots, one hit, and was a minus-2 in 16:39 of total ice-time against his former team.
In his return to Buffalo, former Sabre Steve Ott finished the game with just one shot in 11:32 of total ice-time.
Jhonas Enroth made 27 saves on 29 shots faced, and played very well in net for the Sabres.
Thursday was the ninth time this season the Sabres have been shutout, which is one away from tying the team record for most time being shut out in a season. Buffalo was shutout ten times last season and the 1996-97 season. Bad news is there are 30 more games to be played this year.
The Sabres fall to 15-34-3 on the season, and will now wait for the Dallas Stars to arrive in Buffalo for a matchup at the First Niagara Center on Saturday. Opening face-off is scheduled for 7pm, and can be seen on MSG Network.