Tonight's game between the Buffalo Sabres and the St. Louis Blues is best summed up into two contrasting phases. The first eight minutes, all Buffalo. The last 52 minutes, not all Buffalo.
The Sabres jumped out early with a 3-0 lead within the first six minutes of the game. They scored three goals on their first four shots against St. Louis' goaltender Manny Legace. However, head coach Andy Murray ended up pulling Legace out. He probably felt sorry for a goaltender whose teammates decided not to show up for the beginning of the game.
After a brief timeout and strict lecture given by the coach, St. Louis finally decided to play some hockey.
Chris Mason came in to relieve Legace in net, and David Perron sent St. Louis into the dressing room with only two down at the end of the first period.
The Blues came out hitting in the second, pushing Buffalo into a more defensive stance than they initially wanted to play. The Blues' forwards got great pressure backchecking the Sabres defensemen, and Patrick Berglund made Buffalo pay for their lazy approach to the second by bringing St. Louis within one goal, making it 3-2 hockey game.
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Buffalo outshot St. Louis 13-8 in the second, but that doesn't tell the entire story of how the game was played. Buffalo was thoroughly dominated in the second, allowing St. Louis every opportunity to get back into this game.
Unfortunately for St. Louis, they were unable to capitalize on the opportunities given.
Buffalo fans were almost certain that head coach Lindy Ruff would have a lot to talk about after his team's performance in the second, but was not illustrated on the ice for the start of the third.
Regardless, Buffalo capitalized on the misfortunes of St. Louis one more time with three minutes into the third, when Henrik Tallinder scored his first of the season to get Buffalo ahead by two once again.
Less than five minutes later, local boy Lee Stempniak netted a goal in front of friends and family to bring St. Louis within one. Keith Tkachuk seemingly knotted the game up at four, but the goal was disallowed. Thus leaving Buffalo with the 4-3 win.
Buffalo will welcome the Columbus Blue Jackets Friday to the HSBC arena.
Notes from the game:
Tim "Tin Man" Connolly is once again injured. After taking a decent-sized hit from Tkachuk, he went to the dressing room and never resurfaced.
Derek Roy is struggling to find his groove, which leads me to believe he may be pressing way too hard.
Ryan Miller again had a couple of mental lapses but found a way to keep Buffalo in the game.
Buffalo may have played some of their best hockey of the season in the first five minutes tonight. Most of the credit may be due to St. Louis' shoddy play, but it sure was nice to watch high-powered offense for a little while.
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