Buffalo Sabres: Failure to Win the Close Ones

The Sabres fell 4-3 in overtime to the Montreal Canadiens Saturday night, losing a game they had led 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2.  This continues the Sabres disturbing trend of losing close games.

On Friday night, the Sabres beat the Kings 5-0.  It could be argued the Kings outplayed the Sabres, out-shooting them 40-22.  But every bounce went the Sabres way.  They scored one goal off the defenseman's stick.  Another deflected off the King's goalie's stick, bounced off his head, and into the net.  

There will be games when everything goes your way, where everything you do turns to gold, and this was one of those games.  

Two nights before, against the Devils, it was the other way around.  The Sabres lost 5-0, but they weren't outplayed by that score.  The Devils got one goal off a deflection, another off a miracle shot.  The Sabres didn't show up against the Devils and nothing they did worked.  There will be games like that.

There are some games you are bound to win, others you are going to lose.  It's the games where both teams are playing hard, where the outcome is in doubt, that the good teams distinguish themselves.  

The Sabres are 9-10 in games decided by one goal; not terrible, but not great.  Just like the Sabres, not a terrible team, but not great either.

The Sabres lost tonight because they played almost the entire overtime shorthanded.  A good team does not get penalties in overtime.  

The first penalty was the result of a typical Afinogenov misplay: Skating around like mad so no one has any idea where he is going, and then passing to his unsuspecting defenseman from about two feet away.

Said defenseman, having an opposing player covering him like a blanket, then having to trip the opposing player before he races away on a breakaway.

The Sabres somehow escaped that four-on-three shooting gallery but, when co-captain Hecht was caught holding two minutes later, it took only twelve seconds for the Canadien's captain Kovalev to roof the puck over Miller's shoulder for the winning goal.

You can't take penalties in overtime, and you can't have veteran players like Afinogenov and Hecht taking those penalties.  

The Sabres won just 25 out of 65 face-offs against Montreal.  That's less than 40 percent.  That means when there was a face-off in the Sabres' end, more often than not the Canadiens came away with possession and could put pressure on Miller.

Not surprisingly, the Sabres were out-shot 46 to 34.  Miller played well, but not well enough to steal a game the Sabres had a chance to win.

At the end of the season, the Sabres may be a few points shy of a playoff position.  And looking back, it will be these close games, that could have gone either way, that could have been two points instead of one, that will be the difference.