The Sabres wrapped up their home schedule by delivering yet another blow to the Capitals’ playoff hopes with a 4-2 win.
BUFFALO — Fan appreciation night in Buffalo is generally a bittersweet kind of night and that wasn’t any different this year, although it was for slightly different reasons.
The Buffalo Sabres took down the Washington Capitals for the second time in nine days at KeyBank Center, this time by a 4-2 decision. The Caps tried to tighten up defensively and, for the most part, they did that. But once Buffalo got on the board, the game seemed to turn in Buffalo’s favor the rest of the way and doomed Washington to another defeat.
It was a commendable effort from the Sabres. A mature win, if you will, where the Caps tried to take away the Sabres’ speed and skill by bottling them up. It worked for most of the first period, but the Sabres turned that on its head when Zach Benson broke through with a tip of a Jeff Skinner shot past Charlie Lindgren with a minute to go in the period.
With a 1-0 lead going into the second, the Sabres pushed back and eventually grabbed a 2-0 lead on an Alex Tuch snipe from the high slot. Although Connor McMichael cut the lead in half roughly two minutes later, Jack Quinn’s toe-drag snipe nearly halfway through the third made it 3-1 to virtually ice it. Dylan Cozens’ empty-net goal made it 4-1 although Tom Wilson tipped a puck past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen with a minute to go to provide the final score.
If it weren’t for the Capitals fighting for a playoff spot still this would’ve been up there for one of the most ho-hum games of the season apart from the fracas that ensued at the final buzzer when TJ Oshie took a long run at Tage Thompson that Rasmus Dahlin took exception to and sparked a pair of fights between Jordan Greenway and Wilson and Thompson with Max Pacioretty. Yeah, we don’t get that one either.
On a fan appreciation night in which the announced attendance was 15,454 in a season where fans’ frustration at another season without the playoffs, it was a good win that sent those who went to the game home happy…even with a lingering air of doubt about what awaits the Sabres when the season ends Monday in Tampa.
“I mean, it feels good to win,” Tuch said. “I guess if we can’t be in, we don’t want other teams to be in. They’re one of the teams we were chasing, so we’re not looking to help any team in particular, that’s for sure. But we’re just trying to win, plain and simple. If we knock a team out of the playoffs in the process, that’s fine, too.”
A few more takeaways from Thursday night…
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I realize there have been some people who have been calling for Don Granato to be fired at the end of the season and something that would make it easier to call for that would be for the team to just stop competing and mail it in the rest of the way. Sabres players, to their credit, haven’t done that at all.
There are reasons to and to not relieve Granato of the job, and that’s something we’ll stack up when the final buzzer goes off against the Lightning, but seeing how players have reacted in private and publicly to a degree about Granato tells me he’s not going anywhere. What it also tells me is that makes next year a defining one for everyone in a position of authority be it Granato or GM Kevyn Adams.
They’re going to finish with fewer points than they did a year ago and that’s reason enough to not be happy. The myriad ways their fortunes could’ve changed based on games here or there or finding more goals or doing anything substantial to address the power play all season (and since last season as well) are all reasons to take issue with how it’s all gone.
Depending on how things shake out with the final playoff spot in the East, 91 points, what the Sabres had a year ago, might’ve been enough to make it this year, or just enough to fall short. Either way, setting a goal of meeting and/or exceeding what they did last season should’ve been the baseline expectation. Falling short of that is certainly a disappointment and that feeling is shared among everyone. The distaste, even in a victory tonight, guys like Tuch or Granato or anyone else who had the goal of making the playoffs this season is more than noticeable. They haven’t done well enough, and they all know it.
“Obviously we’re not happy we’re eliminated but, I mean, we still love the game, and we love to compete so it’s no different,” Quinn said. “Go out there and have fun and do our best to win.”
If you’re eager for pleasant stuff from tonight, however, be pleased that Luukkonen played yet another strong game against a team with guys who can score in a variety of ways. It can be intimidating dealing with Alex Ovechkin, Oshie, Dylan Strome, and Wilson, but he was steady, strong and dependable. What a relief it’s been to see him come into his own this season and take control of the starter’s job.
Benson getting his 10th goal of the season is great to see because he’s been seemingly frustrated at not scoring more this season. He’s not alone in that respect, that’s for sure. Quinn scoring yet again with what’s become a routine play for him to elude players and stick checks to snipe the goalie provides hope for next season as well as a pang of what-could’ve-been had he not had miserable injury luck all year.
It will be curious to see how this team does on the road against a pair of playoffs-bound teams in Florida and Tampa Bay. The Panthers have plenty to still play for with an outside shot at first in the division but also needing to keep the Maple Leafs at bay as they’re distantly threatening for second place.
The Lightning are virtually cemented into the first wild card spot and while they’ve still got a long-shot to maybe catch Toronto for third, the way the Leafs are playing makes that not-so likely. Chances are pretty good the Lightning won’t have anything to play for on Monday night which means there could be more than a few regulars out of the lineup.
The final two games might not be particularly interesting for Buffalo or Florida or Tampa Bay, but we’ve got to see it through, nonetheless.