Although they played a tough game, the Sabres were unable to pull out a victory against the Florida Panthers Tuesday night at the First Niagara Center as the Panthers extended their winning streak to 10 games.
The final score was 5-1 in favor of the Panthers, but the score does not reflect the game all that well. For the first two periods, the game was very back and forth, with either team looking like they could score at any moment. It wasn’t until the third period that the Panthers really opened the game up, scoring three goals in the final 20 minutes of play
The goal scorers for the Panthers were Jaromir Jagr, Derek Mackenzie, Corban Knight, Jonathan Huberdeau and Brandon Pirri. Jagr strengthened his claim on the title of all-time leading scorer against the Sabres amongst current NHL players, scoring his 45th career goal against. Ryan O’Reilly scored the only goal for the Sabres, a power play goal off of a no-look pass from Jack Eichel, who extends his point streak to four games.
One of the biggest stories coming out of the game is the Sabres’ lack of success on the power play. The Sabres had four opportunities on the power play, but were only able to score once – looking sloppy on their other three chances with the extra man. Sloppiness was a problem in general for Buffalo, with head coach Dan Bylsma saying that he didn’t like “the way they executed and how they turned the puck over,” especially early on in the game.
This is the Sabres fifth consecutive loss, and their fourth straight at home. Sabres’ center Ryan O’Reilly stated that the team “isn’t playing the way they want to play,” and that he feels for the fans. Although the Sabres kept it close for the majority of the game, they were unable to stop the Panthers’ onslaught in the third period, which ultimately was the biggest contributor to their loss.
Buffalo’s next game is Friday night at the United Center, where the Sabres will take on the 24-13-4 Chicago Blackhawks. This is the start of three game road trip for the Sabres, who then go on to play the Winnipeg Jets and Minnesota Wild.
The Sabres return home on January 15th against the Boston Bruins, and hopefully will have ended their losing streak by then.