The Calgary Flames came away with a 4-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres in what was a seesaw battle the entire game. Adam Ruzicka scored what proved to be the game-winner for the Flames early in the third period. While the Sabres came back from one-goal deficits three times, they were ultimately outworked by a hungrier Calgary team.
The Sabres, now 1-3 on the season, got goals from Erik Johnson, Tage Thompson and JJ Peterka.
Tonight’s lineup
Jeff Skinner – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch
JJ Peterka – Dylan Cozens – Peyton Krebs
Jordan Greenway – Casey Mittelstadt – Zach Benson
Zemgus Girgensons – Tyson Jost – Kyle OkposoRasmus Dahlin – Mattias Samuelsson
Owen Power – Henri Jokiharju
Connor Clifton – Erik JohnsonDevon Levi
Rocky start
Lousy start for the Sabres in this one. The Flames opened the scoring just 49 seconds into the game. Devon Levi kicked out a huge rebound on a shot from the point and didn’t immediately pick up where the puck went. Jonathan Huberdeau grabbed the loose puck in the circle to Levi’s and shot the puck off of the goalie’s pad into the net.
The Sabres tied the game at 6:06 on the first-as-a-Sabres goal from Erik Johnson. Some good puck movement by the Sabres and nice cross-ice pass from Dahlin. Johnson’s wrist shot from the blueline appeared be screened, beating Daniel Vladar high glove. Dahlin and Okposo picked up the assists.
It wasn’t too long before the Flames retook the lead. The Sabres lost control in their own zone and never regained possession and at 10:15, Walker Duehr banged the puck past Levi.
Tage Thompson tied it up at 2-2 on the powerplay at 14:28. This was the third powerplay of the period for the Sabres. This time, they moved the puck well and Cozens made a super cross-ice pass to find Thompson in his usual spot in the circle. The hard wrister from Thomspon beat Vladar on the glove side. Good shot by Tage, but Vladar looked weak on that shot. Cozens and Dahlin picked up the assists.
Shots in the first period were 12-7 in favor of Calgary.
Dull second
Another early powerplay opportunity for the Sabres saw them control the puck well in the Flames zone and generate a couple of good shots, albeit unscreened shots.
Not a whole lot happened for either side in the second period. A few shots, but nothing you could consider a huge scoring opportunity.
Then with 22 seconds to go, Levi made a huge stop on a Lindholm breakaway to keep the game tied at 2-2.
Shots in the second once again favored the Flames, 10-7.
Seesaw battle in the third
Zach Benson got knocked off the puck at the Flames blueline and four Calgary players broke out 4-on-2. A couple of quick passes as the came into the Sabres zone, and Blake Coleman ripped one past Levi at 1:52.
JJ Peterka tied things up again just over a minute later at 3:14. His quick wrister from the circle was too much for Vladar to handle; the shot dinged off the post to the goalie’s right and in. Assists went to Cozens and Jokiharju.
The seesaw battle continued at 4:35 when the Flames re-took the lead once again on a goal from Ruzicka. Some poor defensive coverage left Ruzicka open, but that’s a shot Levi should stop.
It looked like the Flames might have scored a goal from the other end of the ice. Luckily for Levi, there weren’t any conclusive camera angles on the play. I say this as a Sabres fan, but my guess is that the puck was in.
Incredibly, the Sabres took a bench minor for too many men on the ice with 1:07 left to play, taking away any comeback chance.
Shots were 14-13 Calgary in the third and 37-27 for the game.
My thoughts
This was an uneven performance from the Sabres. While they showed some offensive flashes and mostly played a decent defensive game, what cost them was shaky goaltending and being outworked by Calgary. For a team that looked so composed last game against Tampa Bay, this was a puzzling one.
It was kind of an odd game for Devon Levi. While he made huge saves to keep his team in the game, he also battled the puck quite a few times. Against Tampa on Tuesday, we didn’t see many rebounds, but tonight, there was a bunch of them. Add the weakish fourth goal and the shot that almost went in from the other end, I’d have to say this was the most we’ve seen Levi struggle since he joined the team late last year. Maybe he needs a rest on Saturday against the Islanders?
The Mittelstadt-Greenway-Benson line had a really tough game. While they did have some good sequences in the offensive zone, each of them was -3 on the game. Speaking of Benson, I found the Flames pushed him around quite a bit tonight.
As a side note, being in Canada, I had the Sportsnet Calgary commentary with Rick Ball and Kelly Hrudy. They told a cool story about Benson. It seems Benson’s parents run a travelling fair in Western Canada and Zach would work at the donut stand during the summer months. So, how did he get to be so good at hockey? He said his Mom would sign him up for hockey camps in whatever city the fair travelled to. Cool!
Here’s my goalie guess for Saturday’s game against the Islanders. I think Eric Comrie gets the start. You may recall Comrie had shutout against the Islanders last March. That also means that you rest Levi and let him play the game following that against his hometown Montreal Canadiens.
Catch up on all the Sabres results and upcoming schedule here.
1 thought on “Flames come into Buffalo and burn Sabres 4-3 ”