Buffalo Sabres Update: There Was A Silver Lining In The OT Loss To Philly
The Buffalo Sabres lost another game they should have won, which is obscuring the fact that one player really shown in Philadelphia.
The other day I shared that I was accused of being too negative on Twitter regarding my coverage of the Buffalo Sabres.
As this season progresses, I feel pretty confident that content that some people label “negative” will be proven to be “realistic” – I mean, are these folks watching the Sabres lose games like they did in Tuesday’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers?
It’s hard to be positive following a game in which the Sabres appeared to be playing Keep Away from their opposition, rather than trying to score – I guess I could have commented that their strategy was, indeed, keeping the puck away from the Flyers – but in truth, there was one silver lining in the dark cloud that hung over last night’s final result:
The debut of Anders Nilsson in a Buffalo Sabres sweater.
(Yes, I am well aware that Matt Moulson continued to play like the Matt Moulson of old, but I gave him his due a week ago, so let’s spread the love around a bit!)
Through over two and a half periods, Nilsson was a stone wall, stopping nearly everything the Flyers threw at him. Sadly, his team didn’t help him, as the Sabres committed three penalties in the 3rd period alone, which led to – surprise! – three power play goals for the Flyers.
It’s easy to look at Nilsson allowing three goals in the third and say, “Eh, you didn’t give the Sabres a full 60 minutes,” and if you think that, you’re an idiot. Nilsson actually gave the Buffalo Sabres a full 65 minutes, as his team decided scoring in overtime was over-rated, and forced their goaltender to make saves such as this one:
So yeah: you definitely cannot peg the loss on Nilsson.
I know a lot of Buffalo Sabres fans would love to see Anders Nilsson start Thursday against the Minnesota Wild, because he was that good for the Sabres on Tuesday. Even if he doesn’t, his play so far definitely gives Sabres fans something to be excited about in what has been a bleak start to the 2016-17 season thus far.
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