Karel Vejmelka stopped 28 shots, registering the Coyotes’ second shutout in as many nights as the Coyotes defeated the Buffalo Sabres 2-0 in Arizona. The game was scoreless until late in the second period, when Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen misplayed the puck behind his net, setting up what turned out to be the game winner by Clayton Keller. Liam O’Brien scored the second Arizona goal on a breakaway in the third period.
My thoughts
- The Sabres frustrating up and down season continued. One day after a great performance against Vegas, the Sabres made a couple of costly mistakes and couldn’t hit the net on grade-A opportunities.
- That was an underwhelming response in the third period from the Sabres. They were only down by one goal and were generating plenty of scoring chances (if they could hit the net), but the Coyotes dominated the first 7-8 minutes of the third period.
- It was kind of an odd game to watch. Sure, the effort was there for the Sabres, but like we’ve seen many times this year, there was no urgency to their play. Don Granato often talks about making simple plays, yet I find the Sabres don’t do that in games like this. They’re often trying for an extra move or a pass through traffic.
- I know people are putting this loss on UPL. Yeah, I agree, he blew it on the first goal. But if your team doesn’t score, you’re not going to win.
- After last night’s performance, my hopes were high for this game. An opportunity to get on a roll with two strong wins on the road. For a while, it looked like it might happen until UPL’s mistake cost the first goal.
- The Sabres have a record of 1-9-3 in the game following a win. That’s crazy, and if they don’t string together some wins soon, they’ll miss the playoffs again.
- It’s different to see an NHL game with camera angles like we get from Mullett Arena in Arizona.
- This is the second meeting between these two teams. Earlier this week, the Sabres beat the Coyotes 5-2.
- With the loss tonight, the Sabres fall to 13-16-3, moving to 7th in their division.
Game recap
The Sabres went with 11 forwards and 7 defense, as they’ve done several times this season. Brett Murray came out of the lineup while Erik Johnson came back in.
Tonight’s lineup
Zach Benson – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch
Casey Mittelstadt – Dylan Cozens – JJ Peterka
Eric Robinson – Peyton Krebs – Kyle Okposo
Tyson Jost – Victor OlofssonRasmus Dahlin – Henri Jokiharju
Mattias Samuelsson – Owen Power
Ryan Johnson – Connor Clifton
Erik JohnsonUkko-Pekka Luukkonen
Even period
Arizona had the better part of the early play; UPL was called upon to make a couple of nice stops on shots from the slot.
The Coyotes had their first powerplay chance just past the midway mark. Very good penalty kill by the Sabres, limiting the Coyotes to just a couple of shots.
The Sabres didn’t have the same jump in their stride that they showed last night, although they were better as the period went on.
Shots were 9-9.
Missing the net in the second
The Sabres came out with more energy in the second period and they generated a couple of good scoring chances.
The pressure they were applying led to them getting their first powerplay chance at 7:36. They got a couple of shots, but no really good chances.
It felt like the Sabres were starting to take over the game midway through the period. They were getting lots of open ice to skate, and if they didn’t keep missing the net, I think they would have been in the lead.
But it was the Coyotes who opened the scoring when UPL coughed up the puck behind his own net and Clayton Keller put the puck into an empty net at 15:12. What’s even more frustrating on that play was that the Sabres controlled the puck in the Coyotes zone for an extended period of time. The Coyotes players were gassed, but Peyton Krebs tried to pass the puck back to Kyle Okposo, but he was going to the bench for a change. The puck went all the way down the ice, which led to UPL’s mistake.
The Sabres should have been up a couple of goals after this period, but instead they were behind 1-0.
Shots in the period were 11-7 Buffalo.
Underwhelming response in the third
Poor start to the third period from Buffalo. The Coyotes were all over them in the first seven minutes, outshooting them 4-0.
And the Coyotes made it 2-0 at 9:36 on a breakaway goal by Liam O’Brien. The play started when Ryan Johnson fanned on his shot at the Arizona blueline.
The Sabres pulled UPL with about 3:00 to play. They didn’t generate anything, and in fact, the Coyotes actually had a couple of chances to score in the empty net.
Shots were 8-6 Buffalo in the third and 28-22 for the game.