Impressive effort lands Buffalo 1st victory

If you were frustrated with the results of Buffalo’s first two games, that is completely understandable. And with the Bills success in their playoff run, it’s too easy to put the Sabres on the backburner and pay less attention. 

But whatever happened between their 2nd loss to Washington the other night to tonight, this looked like a rejuvenated team. Taylor Hall and Jack Eichel had three points apiece in what was a full 60-minute effort against the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night at Wells Fargo Center.

It resulted in a 6-1 victory. This was an all-around legitimate win for the Sabres who dictated nearly everything all night long on national tv. They showed up to play with a fast-tempo and shut the Flyers down from puck drop to the final horn, and that’s not something we have seen very often (or at all) in recent seasons.

Per.TimeEVGoalAssistAssist
115:52Curtis Lazar (1)------
23:35PPGSam Reinhart (1)Taylor Hall (3)Jack Eichel (4)
26:28Sam Reinhart (2)Jack Eichel (5)Taylor Hall (4)
28:09Curtis Lazar (2)Riley Sheahan (1)Brandon Montour (1)
310:47Henri Jokiharju (1)Eric Staal (1)---
317:55Nicolas Aube-Kubel (1)Michael Raffl (1)Travis Sanheim (1)
318:49PPGVictor Olofsson (2)Taylor Hall (5)Jack Eichel (6)

Sam Reinhart nearly had his fourth career hat trick as the team tried to help him get there in the third period, but he’ll take a pair of goals within a few minutes.

Curtis Lazar has been a solid addition for the team since last season and he cashed in with two goals of his own.

The Sabres played a relatively solid game in the second game against Washington but just ended up on the wrong end. They clearly built off that performance over the last few days and that was very evident.

Eric Staal scored his first point as a Sabre with an assist as did Riley Sheahan.

Rasmus Dahlin needed some attention very late in the game after Aube-Kubel punched him in the face after entering the zone. It resulted in a 4-minute penalty, which Victor Olofsson scored on, but it does sound like the Sabres want that hit examined further by the NHL.

Carter Hutton only faced 22 shots on the night, but his 1-goal outing was a nice recovery after he allowed five goals in the season opener.

It looked like Linus Ullmark was set to get the start tonight, but he was ruled out after a personal matter came up, and the Sabres won’t go into that right now. Jonas Johansson served as the backup.

It’s not yet known who will get the nod in Tuesday’s game, but I think the bigger questions are how the Flyers respond and if Buffalo can show this level of competing again.

Kevin Freiheit
Kevin Freiheit
I founded Buffalo Hockey Central in 2008 and have poured hours and hours into this site. Luckily, we have a great team of writers and designers who have helped keep this up and running despite a ton of out-of-pocket costs. We do this because we enjoy it, and we're desperate to see the Sabres win the Cup someday, but they have to make the playoffs first.
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