Could the Buffalo Sabres actually pass the Vancouver Canucks in the standings?
I know, that sounds crazy. The Sabres, along with the Coyotes, have been so bad all season that they were permanently stuck in the NHL basement and no other team was going to come close to their putrescence.
But the Sabres are now only 7 points back of the Canucks. They put together a little winning streak on their Western Canadian swing, winning three straight. The Canucks are closer to the Sabres than they are to the playoffs. Way closer. They’re 13 points out of the playoff picture.
You might think that it can’t happen, that this Sabres team is so truly terrible that they’ll be back to their losing ways in short order, and that the Canucks will string together some wins before too long.
I’d like to think that a healthy Canuck team is better than the Sabres, but I watched this game.
- What a dreadful game. There was a part of me that was tempted to just skip this I Watched This Game and leave this game with the gloves I’ve already dropped, but that just wouldn’t be right.
- Travis Green went with the same lineup that dominated the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday. That lineup didn’t even last a full period. With the Canucks skating “in mud,” according to him, Green turned to the Line Blender 3000™ and set it to mutilate. Brock Boeser, one of the few forwards who seemed to have a spark of life in him, was passed around the team like a gourd of maté.
- Boeser started the game with the Sedins, moved to a line with Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi, and played a bit with Sam Gagner and Thomas Vanek. In one stretch, he went on the ice with different linemates in four straight shifts. Green even briefly split the Sedins and put Daniel on the ice with Boeser and Horvat. Nothing worked. The only consistent element was that Boeser was good. It’s like having one amazing ingredient — real truffles, maybe — and nothing to go with it, so you just end up with truffled Kraft Dinner and wondering what went wrong with your life.
- The defence didn’t escape the blender either. Ben Hutton started the game with Chris Tanev, but Green swapped him with Michael Del Zotto in the second period. Hutton seemed to mesh well with Alex Biega, actually. Maybe there’s something there. Probably not. But maybe.
- Hutton didn’t look great on the opening goal — he should have left his man in front to prioritize Scott Wilson coming out from behind the net — but I am equally dismayed at Bo Horvat failing to recognize the danger and come down low to help his defence. Poor Chris Tanev had to come from the opposite side of the ice to try to check Wilson and the trio’s fixation on the puck-carrier left Sam Reinhart more open for a rebound than Taylor Swift after writing a hit song about her ex.
- Nic Dowd had a game to forget and seems like a candidate for a healthy scratch next game. Shot attempts were 8-1 for the Sabres while he was on the ice. At one point he had the puck on his stick after a long shift in the defensive zone and simply whiffed on the puck with no one around. At another point, he tried a drop pass while crossing the Sabres’ blue line. While shorthanded. He barely saw the ice after that and finished with just 8:30 in ice time.
- I’ve heard from several people that Jake Virtanen had a good game, which is utterly confusing to me. While he was noticeable on a couple rushes, his decision-making with the puck was disastrous. He caused a too many men on the ice penalty by passing to the bench on a line change and he had several bad giveaways. The Canucks got out-shot 7-2 when he was on the ice. He wasn’t good.
- His most eye-catching moment came when he gave a drop pass to no one as he crossed the Sabres’ blue line, not realizing that his linemates were changing behind him. That’s actually one of his more forgivable mistakes, even if it led to the 2-0 goal on a nice move by Nicholas Baptiste. At least with that giveaway, you could see what Virtanen was thinking, even if the right play would have been to get the puck deep to allow the change to happen. It’s just odd that some were treating that giveaway as if it was a blip on an otherwise good game.
- I loved the little side story Dan Murphy told about Robin Lehner getting a haircut from Anders Nilsson’s wife, Emelie. From the Buffalo News: “Anders Nilsson’s wife always cuts my hair, so it was time,” Lehner said. “Every year since I started playing with him, she’s great at cutting hair. She’s the only one I trust with scissors around me.”
- Green didn’t really split the Sedins, but Daniel did get a shift with Boeser and Horvat. He had his best moment of the game, rushing the puck up ice while evading two checkers in the neutral zone before cutting to the middle and getting a good shot off. It was so weird to see a solo effort from a Sedin.
- After winning 21-of-28 faceoffs on Tuesday, Horvat struggled against the Sabres, going 3-for-14 in the circle. He even lost two faceoffs to Evander Kane, a winger. Like Jason Mendoza figuring out the secret of The Good Place, it was a real low point.
- Jacob Markstrom didn’t look great on the Sabres’ third goal, allowing a long shot by Marco Scandella to squeak under his arm, but it was also a great example to show young defencemen why you always need to box out in front of the net, even if you think your goaltender has the puck. Michael Del Zotto simply stood there, not moving his feet, while Okposo, unimpeded, jammed the puck in.
- I appreciated the Canucks giving it the ol’ college try at the end of the game, pulling the goaltender on a power play to give them a 6-on-4 opportunity, if only because it gave Boeser another chance to score. Sure, it led to an empty net goal against, but trying and failing actually seems like a pretty good definition of a “college try.” Except with less beer.
