The Florida Panthers took a 4-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres and made life difficult on a team that’s done things the hard way all year.
BUFFALO — The Florida Panthers are an absolute machine, there is no doubt. They showed last season on their run to the Stanley Cup Final that they’re made of all the stuff teams need to have to go that far in playoffs. That they edged out the Buffalo Sabres to get there left a welt on the hearts and minds of fans in Western New York that won’t go away until the Sabres ever get back to the postseason.
Thursday night’s 4-0 loss to Florida, 10 months after they last faced each other in Sunrise in a game that essentially decided the playoffs, was a reminder of how far the Panthers have come since then and how difficult this season has been for the Sabres.
Buffalo was without Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen due to a lower-body injury that has him out day-to-day (Don’t worry, it’s not serious and he may be back for Saturday’s matchup in St. Paul with the Wild) and went with Eric Comrie who last played for the Sabres on December 5. Hell, his most recent game with the Rochester Americans was January 27. Comrie played great and made 27 saves. The problem was, Panthers goalie Anthony Stolarz (who started because Sergei Bobrovsky played Wednesday night in Pittsburgh) made 45 saves to earn his first shutout of the season and seventh of his career.
It was the most shots on goal the Sabres have had in a game in which they scored zero goals in franchise history. It’s an ignominious piece of history, but one that virtually sums up what their recent run of games (apart from the 7-0 beat down of L.A.) has been like.
“Just have to go to the net. It’s pretty much playing simple,” Alex Tuch said. “It’s tough, you play a team that’s man-on-man, you have to play a little different. You have to play in and out of spots. But I thought at times we did a really good job of it, we caused chaos, and we got opportunities. Stolarz stood on his head and made some really big saves for them. But that’s when we were able to get our best chances was after a shot with a guy in front and then a second-chance opportunity. And we had a few of those, we just didn’t capitalize on them.”
More on a tough loss ahead…
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There were plenty of shots and attempts from the Sabres in this one, but it felt like there were a lot of empty calories with shots from the outside and not a ton of action down low. That’s my own view of it although I’m known to be wrong sometimes.
Taking a look at the expected goal numbers, Florida’s were so good in the first period that it carried them for most of the game. Of course, they got the lead in the first and never looked back so that checks out.
Aleksander Barkov set up Carter Verhaeghe in the first period when he picked Ryan Johnson’s pocket below the goal line and fed Verhaeghe in front to beat Comrie. Tuch and Granato pointed out that Barkov got his stick in on Johnson’s hands to help make the steal. While true, Johnson could’ve sent the puck around the boards to Erik Johnson moments before to relieve the imminent pressure from Barkov.
“We should have had layers of insulation there. So, yeah, there were a couple guys, there should have been two layers there,” Don Granato said. “But again, it’s a quick play. You see him, the player had to reach around Ryan and got him in the gloves and typically those are called. I don’t know if it’s wedged, hard to see that when you’re on the wall there in tight. But yeah, that’s unfortunate. But absolutely, there should be layers supporting.”
Shoulda/coulda/woulda and all that, but it was one of a few instances where a superior Panthers team got away with something because, damn it, they’re just good and get those breaks. That goal deflated the Sabres a bit as the Panthers piled up shots and chances after that, but Comrie held it down for Buffalo to get back into it.
Buffalo had a power play in the second period when Sam Bennett hit JJ Peterka from behind in front of the Sabres bench and that particular man advantage generated a lot of chances and looked effective, but yet came away empty handed. However, two other power play opportunities they had in the third period were more reflective of how it’s looked most of this season. It’s been a repeated and unfortunate theme this year.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s opportunities,” Tuch said. “Not capitalizing, not being able to finish around the net. I don’t know. We just weren’t able to roll over our momentum, I think. It was a little too broken tonight.”
What took the wind out of the Sabres sails fully it seemed was a brutal interference call against Connor Clifton late in the second period when he collided with old friend Sam Reinhart along the boards with the puck very much right there.
“I thought it was a puck battle, personally,” Granato said. “I thought it was a puck battle. Their player, Reinhart on the play, moved his body into him. Again, those things happen quick. We’re definitely not going to like that call, that’s for certain.”
The official farthest away made the call and while Florida didn’t score on the power play, they did score 18 seconds after it ended when Anton Lundell deflected a Matthew Tkachuk shot during another delayed penalty call that was coming against Tage Thompson. At 2-0 the game was effectively over.
Verhaeghe scored an empty-net goal in the third with 1:33 remaining to make it 3-0 and a phantom high-sticking call against Zach Benson with 17 seconds left to play turned into a Ryan Lomberg power play goal five seconds later. It wouldn’t be a Florida game without a little extra salt in the wound.
This was a Panthers team that played the night before in Pittsburgh and made the Penguins look like an old team with no gas left in the tank to fight. An honest-to-goodness schooling of a veteran team. Any thought that they’d come to Buffalo and run out of gas late in the game was nullified when they got up 2-0. A hungry team eager to get back to the Stanley Cup Final against a team starved for goals and good luck should’ve provided a predictable outcome, but after the Sabres blowout win against the Kings, there was once again hope that a corner had been turned.
Unfortunately, there was a brick wall there waiting for them.
“Maybe we were making one extra pass – I don’t know,” Tuch said. “Maybe that’s what it looks like from up there, but honestly, it’s just a little bit grittier, a little bit more ‘F U’ mentality, especially around the dirty areas of the net. But they locked it down pretty good, especially after they got the first one. They were able to sit back and we had to play through them, instead of the opposite. So, when you give up the first one, you have to play on your toes, you have to keep on pushing forward. And it’s a little bit harder when a team’s got a lead on you.”
As for Comrie’s play in a pinch, you have to feel good for him. It’s been a tough year and he’s been a very good soldier all around. He’s genuinely one of the nicest people in hockey and an easy guy to want to see do well. That he played very well in a loss is bittersweet for everyone, but he’s always looking on the bright side even if the outcome was once again grim for the team.
“For the most part, I felt pretty relaxed, pretty calm,” Comrie said. “I felt like I was just trying to have some fun out there and really enjoy the game and enjoy just working for these guys out there, because these guys worked hard for me tonight and I just tried to reciprocate that effort.”
As for Luukkonen, Granato said it’s very possible he’ll be OK by Saturday in Minnesota. Whatever it is that happened with him occurred “earlier” and he tried to work it out this morning at the team skate, but they wanted to give it another day to resolve itself. It sounds like a minor issue they didn’t want to press and put him at risk. That’s totally fine to do. He’s played too well and, honestly, the situation in the standings isn’t so pressing you have to run him out there and potentially make things worse.
The reality of the situation the Sabres are in may be finally starting to hit, although judging a team’s mindset after a loss is at best tenuous and at worst deeply foolish on my part. However, they’re 10 points out of the second wild card spot right now and depending how Detroit does in Vancouver late Thursday night it could be 11 or 12 points out with 29 games to go. The clock is just about out of time, and we’ve got just over three weeks to go until the trade deadline.