By: Brayden Peters
DENVER, C.O. - The last time the Buffalo Sabres faced the Colorado Avalanche, the Sabres gave up a 4-0 lead going into the third period and eventually fell 5-4. It was a similar story last night as the Sabres were beaten 6-5 in overtime by the Avalanche after Buffalo was up 3-0 for most of the game. Just like in their previous matchup, the Sabres were outshot, this time 29-to-21.
"You play a game like that, nine out of ten times, you're going to win the hockey game," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said. "We played a heck of a game...just the composure to not get the puck out into the neutral zone near the end...we spent a lot of time trying to make sure the same thing didn't happen. We were going to have to push, we were going to try and play in the offensive zone, we weren't going to back off. I thought we accomplished a lot in the game. But that's just another painful loss."
Buffalo was able to hang onto their lead throughout most of the third period as they were up 5-3 with 3:51 left in the frame. Two unanswered goals from the Avalanche, the first coming from defenseman Cale Makar and one from forward Jonathan Drouin with 6.8 seconds left in the period, while on a six-on-five sent the game to overtime.
"Way too passive," Ruff said. "We talked about, we lose it we're going. Just locked up."
Colorado was all over the puck in overtime and it paid off. Sabres forward Tage Thompson was pushed off the puck by Avalanche defenseman Devon Towes and he took advantage of a breakaway opportunity. He beat goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen blocker side on a wrist shot to seal the win for Colorado.
Forward Jason Zucker and Thompson were the only Sabres to have a multi-point night. Zucker recorded four points (three + one) while Thompson had three (zero + three). Zucker's hat trick was the third of his NHL career and two of the goals came on the power play. He leads the Sabres in power play goals with seven after last night.
Luukkonen recorded 23 saves in between the pipes for Buffalo to give him a .793 save percentage for the evening.
Buffalo went two-for-three on the power play thanks to Zucker and went two-for-three on the penalty kill.
The first minutes of the opening period were quiet for both sides. They only recorded one shot on goal each after five minutes of play. The first one didn't occur until Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon took a backhand shot that was saved by Luukkonen with 16:09 left in the frame.
Colorado started to consistently put pressure on Buffalo as they forced giveaways, got high quality scoring chances and didn't allow the Sabres to consistently enter the o-zone. However, the Avalanche weren't the ones to break the scoreless tie. While on the power play with 6:43 left in the period, Sabres forward Jason Zucker redirected a pass from forward Jack Quinn into the bottom right corner of the net. Thompson was also credited with an assist.
A few minutes later, Buffalo increased their lead to 2-0 thanks to former Colorado 2019 first round pick Bowen Byram. After the Sabres forced a turnover on their own blue line, they had a two-on-one chance in which Byram buried a backhand shot into the bottom right corner of the cage. He received a feed from Zucker on the scoring opportunity, which gave Zucker an assist. Forward Dylan Cozens was also given credit for an assist as well.
Although the Avalanche generated more high quality scoring chances in the last few minutes of the frame, they couldn't find the back of the net before the horn sounded. Buffalo outshot Colorado 10-to-nine in the period.
The start of the second period was similar to the start of the first. Both sides didn't get many scoring chances as multiple turnovers were forced. Five minutes into the frame, the Sabres were outshooting the Avalanche three-to-two.
Although both sides continued to struggle to get scoring chances, Buffalo capitalized on one of them to extend their lead to 3-0. On the Sabres' second power play of the night, with 8:52 left in the frame, Zucker, who was standing in front of the crease, redirected a pass from Thompson into the top left corner of the cage. Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin was given an assist on the goal.
Regardless of the decent sized deficit, Colorado continued to apply heavy offensive pressure, and it paid off soon enough. With 5:02 left in the period, Makar moved to the red dot in Buffalo territory and beat Luukkonen glove side as he found the top shelf.
The Avalanche did get another chance to cut into the lead more with their first power play opportunity of the night with 2:57 left in the period. It was killed off, though, and they couldn't score again before the end of the frame. Colorado outshot the Sabres nine-to-seven in the frame.
Colorado carried their momentum into the third period as forward Ross Colton fired a wrist shot towards the net, which deflected off of Luukkonen's right side and into the cage.
A crazy sequence of events would happen 22 seconds later. Buffalo forward Zach Benson slipped and fell on the right leg of Avalanche goalie Scott Wedgewood, injuring him. Benson was able to get back up, get the puck and bury it on a wrap around to give the Sabres a 4-2 lead. The referees confirmed there was no goaltender interference on Benson. Mackenzie Blackwood filled in for Wedgewood after he was taken into the locker room.
The Avalanche still kept up with Buffalo. On a five-on-three power play with 15:33 left in the game, Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen buried a one timer slap shot to cut the Sabres lead to one goal.
However, both sides went cold on offense as with five minutes left in the final period, Colorado outshot the Sabres six-to-two.
With 3:51 left in the frame, Buffalo added some cushioning onto their lead thanks to Zucker. Blackwood coughed up a rebound on a shot from Thompson and Zucker buried a wrist shot top shelf to extend the Sabres' lead.
Colorado went on to score two unanswered goals to send the game to overtime. At the end of the frame, the Avalanche outshot Buffalo 10-to-four in the period alone.
The Avalanche proceeded to cap things off with Towes' overtime winning goal, securing them two points with the 6-5 win.
Buffalo falls to 14-20-5 on the season and remain in last place in the Atlantic. As for Colorado, they improve to 24-15-0 and are in third in the Pacific.
The Sabres will continue their series of Pacific Division games when they take on the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. The game is slotted to start at 10 p.m.
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