February 13, 2011

Sabres Waste Stafford Hat-Trick as They Lose to Islanders in Overtime


Its not often that Ryan Miller allows seven goals in a game. In fact, that doesn't happen that often with any goalies in the NHL. But it happened Sunday afternoon as the Sabres wasted an offensive outburst and lost 7-6 in overtime to the New York Islanders.

There were way too many goals scored in the game to recap everything so for this one time only, I'm going to generalize what happened. Sorry...........I just don't have enough time to write this tonight.

The game started and ended in goal scoring sprees.

Michael Grabner opened the scoring 40 seconds into the game to put the Islanders up 1-0. It was his first of three goals on the night as he recorded a hat-trick.

Buffalo responded by scoring three of the next four goals and took a 3-2 lead entering the first intermission.

Drew Stafford finished the first period with two goals while linemates Tyler Ennis and Tim Connolly each had two assists.

In the second period, the Sabres extended their lead to 4-2 when Nathan Gerbe put in his 7th goal of the season.

The Islanders then responded by scoring the next two goals of the game to tie the game at 4-4.

Tyler Myers put the Sabres up 5-4 but the Sabres quickly saw their lead turn into a deficit.

Milan Jurcina and Ty Wishart both scored on back-to-back power plays for the Islanders which gave them the lead midway through the 3rd period.

But the game wasn't over yet.

Drew Stafford added his third goal of the game late in the third period to to complete the hat-trick and tie the game at 6-6.

The game would enter overtime at 6-6 when Michael Grabner scored to win the game for the Islanders. The goal was Grabner's 24th goal of the season and completed his hat-trick on the night.

Ryan Miller had a less than stellar night. He allowed multiple soft goals and only faced 26 shots. To allow seven goals on 26 shots is horrible and cost the Sabres the game on this day.

Its a shame he had to play so poorly when the Sabres offense was playing so well. Drew Stafford recorded his fourth hat-trick of the season and Tyler Ennis recorded three assists.

Normally when they Sabres offense produces that way, they win. Unfortunately for them, it didn't work out that way today.

The loss costs the Sabres one point in the eastern conference standings as they fall four points behind Carolina for 8th place in the eastern conference.

Carolina defeated Atlanta on Sunday to move an additional point ahead of the Sabres.

The Sabres have little time to rest as they next play Tuesday when they take on the Montreal Canadiens in a game that will be nationally televised on Versus.


Attendance: 18,690
Buffalo's Record: 26-22-6 (58 points) 10th in the Eastern Confence
Points Back Of Playoffs: 4 points back of Carolina (3 games in hand)
Interesting Note: Drew Stafford recorded his 4th hat-trick of the season and 6th of his career
Key Stat: The Sabres finished their season series vs. the Islanders at 1-2-1
Three Stars:
1st- Michael Grabner (New York Islanders)
2nd- Drew Stafford (Buffalo)
3rd- Tyler Ennis (Buffalo)



1 comment:

  1. you got to add a little spice or mixup to your articles... no offense but they are so boring

    ReplyDelete