Quick Hits: Devils vs. Sabres
Let me start off by complaining to y’all about how boring games against the New Jersey Devils are.
They are so god damn boring and I want to fork my eyeballs out with a fork (obviously).
Onto the game now.
Things started off pretty well for the Buffalo Sabres. A beautiful goal from Tyler Ennis, just short of the blue line and on the power play, nonetheless.
Linus Ullmark seemed good throughout the first period, jitters were at a minimum.
Adam Henrique would welcome Ullmark to the NHL with a goal, less than a minute left in the first period.
Henrique’s 5th of the season had things tied at 1 heading into the 2nd period.
Ryan O’Reilly opened up the 2nd period with a goal less than 3 minutes in, which goes down as his 3rd of the season. This came right as a power play expired, penalty was at 0:31, goal at 2:31.
Things began to go downhill for Buffalo after ROR’s goal.
The next three goals were scored by the New Jersey Devils. Not good news, obviously.
Cammalleri, Schlemko and Henrique (shorthanded) gave the Devils a 4-2 lead, which put us late in the third period.
Jack Eichel tried to manufacture some sort of comeback, with his 3rd goal of the season (only 891 to go for Gretzky) at 19:15.
Even though he scored, Eichel was not happy when the game was over.
Eichel not happy as the game ends pic.twitter.com/rKULH6QGP7
— steph (@myregularface) October 25, 2015
The Buffalo Sabres fall to 2-6-0 on the season, with 4 points. The slow start to the season continues.
Buffalo will take on the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night, in Philadelphia. We’ll have a recap when that happens, but let’s further expand on tonight’s game before we move on.
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- Linus’ Debut
First National Hockey League game for Linus Ullmark, the potential answer to who might be the Sabres long-term answer in goal.
Not only was it Ullmark’s first NHL game, but it was his 4th professional game in North America.
28 shots faced and 24 saves.
There was a lot of good to take from tonight’s performance.
All factors considered, things turned out pretty well for Ullmark. I am certain we’ll be seeing Ullmark in net again sometime soon.
Side note: his Minion mask is horrifying.
- Kane’s Knee Turns Heel
One thing the Buffalo Sabres could ill afford was an injury to one of their top-six forwards.
As you can tell by the above GIF, Evander Kane left tonight’s game with a potential knee injury.
Following the game, details were very scare.
“I don’t have anything to give you any idea,” said Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma. “I knew he wasn’t going to come back in the game. No indication right now (on knee), I don’t want to speculate.”
If the Buffalo Sabres are without Evander Kane for any length of time, the already-struggling offense will need to pick up some extra slack.
Kane’s cryptic tweet following the game certainly does not promote any good feels throughout the fan base.
Will be back ASAP. #sabresfans #thankyou
— Evander Kane (@evanderkane_9) October 25, 2015
Get well soon, EK.
- #EichelBust
People don’t understand sarcasm.
I don’t think Jack Eichel is a bust, but if you think I think he’s a bust then he’s probably a bust.
Good? Good.
It was pretty cool to see Jack Eichel score a goal in person.
- Meet Mike Weber, Healthy Scratch.
I did a little dance, wanted to take all my clothes off and go streaking on the ice.
I know the fancy stats have shown that Cody Franson has been worse than Mike Weber this year, but not seeing Weber on the ice fills me with such joy and relief.
This is a cooled take because I am not the only one who dislikes the Mike Weber.
- O-O-O-O’Reilly
Ryan O’Reilly was the best Sabres player on the ice this evening and boy, did he ever have a game.
O’Reilly played a part in all 3 Sabres’ goals this evening, finishing up with 1 goal and 2 assists in a team-high 22:25 time-on-ice.
Looking to faceoffs, O’Reilly crushed it again. He ended the evening at 65% overall (17 of 26), including 86% (6 of 7) in defensive zone faceoffs.
It is such a treat to watch such a talented hockey player play for the Buffalo Sabres.
Of all the new talent in Buffalo, it feels like O’Reilly has been forgotten or taken advantage of in the first 8 games.
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