Sabres’ woes mount with shutout by Flyers
Offense is blanked in loss to Flyers
Once again, there was an empty feeling in the Buffalo Sabres’ dressing room. It was a carryover from the ice, where there were plenty of empty nets but no one able to fill them.
After three games of watching teams score at will, the Sabres succeeded in keeping Philadelphia quiet Friday. But the struggling Sabres found yet another way to lose. This time, it was their offense. They got shut out in HSBC Arena, dropping a 3-0 decision to the Flyers and old friend Martin Biron. It was the Sabres’ fourth straight loss, and they are just 1-5-1 in the past seven games.
Biron made 40 saves for his 24th career shutout. The former Sabre had a lot of help, however.
“We did a great job of making their goaltender look good,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “We missed, by my count, four wide-open nets. [Drew Stafford] missed a wide-open net, missed two of them. [Jaroslav] Spacek missed a wide-open net. [Jason Pominville], wide-open net. But when you haven’t been going good, you don’t get breaks.”
They had their chances, though. The Sabres, with five goals, are the No. 1 team in the NHL when given a two-man advantage. They couldn’t convert a pair of chances Friday. It obviously cost them.
They earned the first five-on-three in the closing minutes of the first period, and it lasted 1:15. They took six shots during the penalties, including three while up two men. Biron was up to the challenge, especially when he made a glove save on leading scorer Thomas Vanek. Biron also got help from the iron when Spacek’s slap shot from the slot hit the post.
“Getting help from the irons is part of the game,” Biron said. “When you move well in the crease, you have desperation in your game. You dive left, right and it stays in your pads or goes off the post.”
The second five-on-three came with five minutes gone in the second period. They managed one shot in the 54 seconds they were up two men and four total during the infractions. The crowd of 18,256 was not pleased, booing loudly as the unit created less than the first chance.
If the struggles weren’t enough, the only goal of the first two periods poured salt in the wound. The Sabres had just failed on their opening five-on-three when Scott Hartnell stepped out of the penalty box and received an outlet pass. He broke in alone on Ryan Miller and lifted a backhand into the net with 58 seconds left in the first.
“They end up scoring the goal right after that, and that’s the frustrating part about it,” Pominville said. “It’s a big momentum killer.”
The Sabres thought they tied the game with 14:20 left. Derek Roy fed a driving Stafford for an apparent tip-in. The referee signaled goal and the red light flashed, but replays conclusively showed Stafford shot the puck into Biron’s left leg and it never crossed the line.
“Anytime there was a breakdown, Marty was there to make the save, and he had some game savers,” Flyers coach John Stevens said.
The crowd was still moaning about Pominville’s shot that hit the post instead of an empty net when the Flyers put the game away. Just 18 seconds after Pominville misfired, Jeff Carter fired top shelf with 11:41 to play. Carter added an empty-netter with 59.5 seconds left.
“We had our chances,” Spacek said. “There’s no doubt about that. If you don’t score five-on-three, you can’t win the game, and that’s what happened.”
The Sabres’ busy weekend continues tonight when they host the surging New York Islanders.
“The disappointing part is it’s been a couple games now where we feel the effort’s there,” Pominville said. “We’ve cleaned up a few areas of our game, but we still end up on the wrong side of this.”
