Anaheim-Buffalo: Sabres Go Down Fighting, Losing to Ducks 3-2

The Buffalo Sabres made a game effort but overcoming the size, skill, and smarts of the Anaheim Ducks was too much for them as they fell 3-2 

Even though they were down four regulars, the Sabres came out flying and dominated the first period.  The Sabres forwards checked the Duck defensemen at every opportunity, and did a great job of helping the Buffalo D in their own end.

Thirteen minutes in, Pat Kaleta, who as usual was hitting everyone in sight, challenged Anaheim's Bobby Ryan for the puck as they raced into the Duck end.  Both went down, crashing into the boards, and the puck squirted free to Dan Paille who worked it to Paul Gaustadt.  

By this time, Kaleta was on his feet in front of the Duck net, leaving Ryan still crumpled on the ice.  Gaustadt slid the puck over and Kaleta fired it under Duck goalie's pad for his third goal of the year.

The Ducks came out charging in the second period and started to out-muscle the Sabres. Only stellar play by Sabre goalie Patrick Lalime, making his first start in seven games, kept the Ducks off the board.

The Ducks showed thei smarts at this point, realizing that the Sabres were shorthanded at defense, they began to target Craig Rivet, the Sabres best and most physical defenseman.  Finally, they goaded him into retaliating.  

The referee did the Sabres no favors, calling a five minute fighting penalty on both Rivet and the Ducks' Corey Perry.  Losing Rivet for five minutes would stretch the Sabres injury riddled defense even thinner.

Two minutes later, Chris Butler got into a tussle with Bobby Ryan.  Down two of their four strongest defenseman, the Sabres could not withstand the Duck attack, and Chris Pronger fired a shot behind a screened Lalime to tie the score.

The game continued to get increasingly chippy.  There was another scrum in front of the Sabre net.  Rivet clearly seemed not to want to get involved, but when he was jumped by the Ducks' Steve Montador, he had to respond, and both were again sent off five minutes for fighting.  

If there ever was a time to call an instigator penalty, this was it, as Montador was not even involved ih the original play and had to skate in from the blue line to drop his gloves, but the refs ignored it.  

Even though they were out-shot 20-6, the Sabres kept scratching and clawing and managed to escape the second period tied 1-1.  As the period ended, all ten skaters on the ice kept jawing and shoving at one another.  One of the Sabre skaters was Andrew Peters, amazingly on the ice at the same time as the Ducks' more skilled players like Ryan Getzlaf.  

You would think Peters might have used this golden opportunity to actually try to take one of the better Duck players off the ice with him in a fight.  But Peters skated in circles, leaving the challenge to Paul Gaustadt, who eventually received a 10 minute misconduct penalty along with the Ducks' Travis Moen.  

Peters says he embraces his role as enforcer on the Sabre team, but if there was ever a time for him to enforce this was it.   Gaustadt for Moen is not a good trade-off for the Sabres; Peters for Moen (or any of the Ducks on the ice), would have been.

The Ducks continued pressing at the start of the third.  The refs would play a role in the next Anaheim goal, whistling Rivet for a dubious slashing call.  

Buffalo's road penalty kill is ranked third in the league and they were doing a good job keeping Anaheim at bay until Chris Butler whiffed on a puck that was sliding around the boards.

It went straight to the Duck's Andrew Ebbett behind the net, who passed it out to Chris Kunitz.  Kunitz actually fanned on his shot, but the puck rolled off the heel of his stick. Lalime, expecting a harder shot, moved to his right, and the puck snuck under his pad into the net.

Five minutes later, Kotalik missed a great chance at the Ducks' end.  As play came back the other way, he slashed the Duck's winger and was sent off for two minutes.  The Sabre penalty killers were gassed.  

This time, the Duck power play set up in the Buffalo zone and controlled the puck.  Montador fired a shot from the point that Lalime stopped, but he could not control the rebound, and Corey Perry slammed it in the open net for a 3-1 lead.

The Sabres would not say "die," and under four minutes later, they stormed the Duck net. Paul Gaustadt blasted a slap shot that the Duck's goalie Hiller misplayed, sending the rebound to his left.  Craig Rivet was on the spot, and turned the gift into a goal, bringing the Sabres back within one.

With just under two minutes to go, the Ducks' Chris Pronger took an interference penalty, giving the Sabres a man advantage for the rest of the game.  But try as they might, they could not score.  On the game they were 0-2 on the power play and Anaheim was 2-3, and that was the difference.

The Sabres go back to Buffalo having gone 3-3 on their longest road trip of the season.  They play four of their next five games at home.

Most importantly, they must get healthy.  Gragnani has played well in that he hasn't made any stunning mistakes.  Butler, by nature of his increased ice time, has become more visible.  He tends to telegraph his passes and is easily knocked off the puck in his own end.  They need Sekera and Numminen back.

Equally importantly, they need Vanek to get hot again.  He missed another great scoring chance tonight, failing to connect on a cross-ice pass from Connolly that he seemed to mis-time with a wide open net in front of him.

Third, as well as Lalime played tonight, and you cannot fault him at all for this loss, they need Miller to continue to keep up his brilliant play which earned him the Third Star Award from the NHL for the month of January.  Except for the two stinkers he let in against Calgary, he stopped just about everything thrown at him.

Lastly, and this is asking a lot, they need to get a late season addition.  As good as Kotalik is in the shoot-out, it's sad to see how reluctant he is to use his big 230 pound body when Patrick Kaleta is throwing his 190 pounds at anything that moves.  Kotalik and Max Afinogenov might get the Sabres something in return from the reeling Senators or Islanders.