@ Buffalo

Losing to Buffalo in a shootout is the hockey equivalent of stepping on a Lego piece. It is painful and entirely predictable. Things started with Owen Power beating us early but Dakota Joshua decided to actually play for a few minutes. He scored a goal and then immediately punched former Leaf Luke Schenn in the face. It was easily the most productive sequence of the game. Oliver Ekman-Larsson also spent a significant portion of the first period hugging Schenn in the penalty box after they both got called for double roughing minors at the exact same time.

Max Domi gave us a lead early in the second but we spent the rest of the game acting like the puck was a live grenade. The power play went zero for six which is truly impressive in its level of incompetence. We managed a staggering two shots on goal in the entire third period while Buffalo treated Joseph Woll like a target at a shooting gallery. Woll was the only reason we even sniffed a point as he stopped 30 of 32 shots while his teammates basically watched from the sidelines. John Tavares even managed to get a roughing penalty in the final minute just to make sure we did not have any momentum heading into the extra frame.

The shootout was the inevitable conclusion to a game where we were outshot 32 to 18. We effectively gave up after the second period and let the Sabres dictate everything. Seeing Jack Quinn tie it on the power play after a Michael Pezzetta slash was just the appetizer for the eventual disappointment. It is the same old story where we rely on our goalie to perform miracles while the offense takes a collective nap. At least we got a point for our troubles though it feels more like a participation trophy than a reason to actually be happy.