The Buffalo Sabres entered Friday night’s game against the Washington Capitols with one goal in mind. The playoffs. A few minutes into the game things did not look good.

The Sabres were stuck in their own end up to that point and it finally came back to bite them when, guess who, Alexander Ovechkin flipped his 55th goal of the season into the goal to make it 1-0 for the Caps.

Four minutes later, Buffalo had their answer, as a Spacek point shot was tipped in by Drew Stafford and the game was tied at one. The party did not end there, as less than a minute later Clarke MacArthur scored on a back hand shot that went off a defensemen’s stick and in.

At the end of the first, the Sabres were up 2-1 and things were looking up. That notion was quickly destroyed. Just under four minutes into the second, Alexander Semin got a  five on three powerplay marker to tie the game at 2.

Nine seconds later, with Washington still on the powerplay, Spacek’s icing attempt was broken up and immediately fired into the net by Sergei Fedorov. In a matter of 10 seconds, the Sabres went from a 2-1 lead to a 3-2 deficit.

Things were not looking good for the Sabres when, with a 1:43 left in the second, Derek Roy redirected a puck into the net. The Sabres’ bench lit up as the game was tied once more. The excitement was short lived.

Twenty-three seconds later, Fedorov got his second of the night to put the Capitols up 4-3.

Now, as we all know, Ryan Miller has just recently returned from an ankle injury. I’m sure the Capitals were well aware of this fact.

Just under eight minutes into the third, Ovechkin made Sabres fans hold there collective breath as he picked up the puck and tried one of his famous cross over moves, only to go barreling into Miller at full speed.

Miller was uninjured on the play, but was obviously a little ticked, as he immediately punched Ovechkin in the face as he lay on the ice.

Now, as I mentioned in my previous article, almost as some kind of foreshadowing, though there can be no such thing in sports, Maxim Afingenov had been on a streak recently until bench for Adam Mair.

Well, on this night, he was back in the lineup and he picked up right were he left off.

10:21 into the third period, Afinogenov made his presence known as he flipped a Connoly pass into a wide open net to tie the game at 4. Makes you wonder why he was benched in the first place doesn’t it?

The rest of the third continued uneventfully and the game was sent to overtime.

Then, the Sabres got the break they needed. 1:50 into the overtime period, Tim Connoly stole away a pass intended for Alexander Ovechkin and brought it in over the line.

He then flipped a beautiful pass in between the legs of a Washington player right to Jason Pominville, who fired it home to keep the Sabres’ playoff hopes alive with a 5-4 victory.  

In a game that featured four lead changes, the Buffalo Sabres kept their playoff hopes alive in a high scoring game against the Washington Capitals. In spite of the loss, the Washington Capitals secured first place in the Southeast Division by earning one point for the loss in overtime.

Alexander Ovechkin opened the scoring on the power-play with a spectacular feed from Brooks Laich.

The Capitals second power-play unit came into the Sabres zone with some great passes between Fedorov and Laich when Ovechkin floated in from the blue-line and took cross crease feed from Laich and made no mistake for his 55th goal of the season.

The Sabres tied things up with an even strength goal by Drew Stafford. Joraslov Spacek hammered a shot from the blue-line that Stafford tipped through the padding of Capitals goalie Simeon Varlamov and into the net.

The Sabres took the lead on a lucky goal by Clarke MacArthur. MacArthur looked to pass the puck from the side boards as he rushed into the Capitals zone and Victor Kozlov accidentally deflected the puck into his own net.

It looked as though Kozlov was trying to prevent the pass from reaching Jason Pomminville who was bearing down on the goal when Kozlov tipped the puck passed Varlamov into his own net.

The Sabres goalie Ryan Miller was looking solid late in the first period as Alexander Semin had a great chance to tie things up at two just above the face-off circle and fired a wrist shot that looked destined for the top shelf when Miller flashed his glove and snagged it out of the air.

He then made some great saves early in the second period while the Sabres took three straight penalties robbing Niklas Backstrom who took a great cross crease feed from Semin. Miller then made a great save on Ovechkin who fired a slap shot from the point.

The Caps were determined to score on the two man advantage and were able to beat Miller when Alexander Semin buried a rebound that came off of Miller’s face mask and bounced behind him.

Fedorov quickly gave the Capitals the lead when he fired a rocket over Miller’s left shoulder into the Sabres net. Tomas Fleischmann had made a great play to keep the puck in the Sabres end when Fedorov slapped it past Miller for another power-play goal.

Derek Roy tied things up at 18:17 of the second period when he tipped in a great slap pass from Tim Connolly on a Sabre power-play.

The Capitals regained the lead only 23 seconds later on a broken play where Ovechkin seemed to lose the puck as he broke his stick trying to shoot on net.

The puck bounced off of a Sabre defensemen to Fedorov who slapped a seeing eye shot through legs and bodies that ended up beating Miller for his second of the night.

Maxim Afinogenov looked like he had tied the game early in the third period when the puck went in off his body in front of Varlamov. The referee quickly waved off the goal as the Sabres player had made contact with the Capitals goaltender Varlamov.

The Sabres who are fighting to get back into the playoffs would not give up. They continued to pressure the Capitals net until Maxim Afinogenov jumped on another beautiful pass from Connolly in front of the Capitals net at 10:21 of the third period to tie things up at four.

The Sabres got the important two points for the win in overtime when Fedorov tried to make a pass to Ovechkin who was breaking out of his own zone.

The pass was picked off by Connolly, who got his third assist of the night with a breakaway pass to Pominville who beat Varlamov between the legs.

Alexander Ovechkin finished the night with one goal and two assists giving him 104 points.  He also had 9 shots on net giving him 495 shots this season.

The Sabres lost to the Atlanta Thrashers Wednesday night, 3-2, in an overtime battle. It was a defeat which, barring a complete collapse by two of the three teams ahead of them, relegates the Sabres to the list of non-Playoff teams for the second straight year.

The Sabres lost this game in pretty much the same way they have lost all too many games already this year. The key culprits:

1. A lack of ability to finish scoring plays. The Sabres have generated many chances; they just have not done a good job of converting those chances to goals. Last night, Roy, Pominville, and Spacek missed the most noticeable opportunities. Vanek has missed his share this year, too, and Stafford missed an open-netter earlier in the year from about two feet out.
2. A dearth of physicality. Atlanta, like many teams with speed, cycled the puck at will in the Sabre end last night. The way to stop the cycle is for a defenseman or forward to put a body on the puck carrier, but the Sabres (and especially their undersized defense) either can’t or won’t play the body.
3. None of the necessary desire or intensity required to win battles on the boards. How many times last night did we see one or two Sabres battling along the boards with one or two Thrashers, only to have a Thrasher skate away with the puck? For whatever reason, the Sabres do not win the one-on-one battles.
4. The soft goal. Ryan Miller has, overall, played very well this year. His stats bear witness, as he’s recorded the lowest goals-against average and highest save percentage of his career. But that said, he has let in a number of head-shakingly “soft” goals. Zack Bogosian’s first goal last night wasn’t a terrible whiff, but Miller appeared to misjudge it.
5. The missing spark. The Sabres players want to win, but they just don’t seem as quick to the puck as they should be. Perhaps it is lack of desire, but more likely, it’s a sign of indecision. If a player doesn’t know his linemates, know where he is supposed to go, and know what he is supposed to do, his indecision will slow his reaction. Lindy Ruff has pushed all the buttons—days off, hard practices, calling his players out in public—but for whatever reason, this team seems to be neither energized nor focused.

 

I have a feeling that my inbox is going to light up after this article, but like a true journalist, you have to take the good with the bad so here goes nothing.

After their overtime loss to the Atlanta Thrashers, the Buffalo Sabres are now five points out of a playoff spot with no apparent end to their struggles. Key players are under performing and the injuries of this season have crippled the once promising team.

The team simply has not been able to score recently. As a highly egotistical opinionated person, Ihave a solution; play Maxim Afinogenov. (GASP Is he insane? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.)

Now as previously implied, you are probably sitting at your computer in awe and anger thinking I am a complete idiot.

The truth is, there is no downside to this. Since returning from his injury Afinogenov has three goals and eight assists for a +9 rating. The hottest player on the team in that span and yet as soon as Adam Mair returns to health Max once again finds himself as a healthy scratch.

It left me wondering why really. Don’t get me wrong, I love Adam Mair. But why bench the hottest player on the team? It just doesn’t make any sense.

What kind of message does that send to the team. “Ok we’re winning games and you’re going great but guess what this guys not hurt anymore so bye now.” In what world does that make sense.

Now a message to those who are currently complaining. Yes you’re right, I do love Afinogenov and would rather see him play every game regardless of performance. Yes I am, in that same sense, bias towards his favor but look at the facts. He was hot. His numbers were spiking and they took him out of the roster just when they needed that kind of performance from their players.

I do not know what Ruff was thinking but someone better explain this to me quickly before I have a stroke.