The three-game sweep of the NHL starts in Buffalo where there was a contest of wills between two teams with no push to anything other than win the top draft pick in June. In this case, the Sabres had just enough extra effort to take a 4-3 win over the hapless Toronto Maple Leafs.
Matt Ellis‘ goal with just over three minutes gone in the third period capped a three-goal comeback for the Sabres who were down 3-1 entering the final frame.
The Maple Leafs had three goals from James van Riemsdyk, Nazem Kadri and Eric Brewer scored for the Leafs.
“You have a 3-1 lead and they scored two quick goals in the third,” Maple Leafs interim coach Peter Horachek said. “We just talked about getting back. I thought our second period was pretty sloppy and we still had a lead. I thought, ‘OK let’s play a solid third period and get back to playing the way we want to play.’ Those two quick goals… We came back. We had tons of great chances. We had lots of chances, Lindback did a good job of making the saves. You can’t be happy with that.”
The Leafs was responsive over forty minutes but the defense was statuesque in its ability to stand around in the low slot and watch the Sabres skate in and out of the area to get their goals.
“These guys work hard. Each and every day, no matter what the circumstances, the guys are laying it out there,” Ellis said. “That’s a great sign of character within this locker room. Being able to go out there, when the puck drops, it’s game on and that’s the bottom line. We’re professional athletes and we’re in for the love of the game and you’re trying to do one thing and you say, ‘That puck hits the ice, you go and play, and give it what you got.’ We’ve been doing that lately. The guys should be proud of themselves.”
The Sabres looked like world-beaters against the Leafs.
“Whether it’s the basement, it’s about the integrity of the game,” Sabres coach Ted Nolan said. “You’re not going to tell professional athletes not to work and not to compete. This group here, they’re giving us what they have to give for the last little while here. It feels good when you see a group like this work and get rewarded for a win.”
In Pittsburgh, the Penguins power failure continued in a dreadful 4-1 loss to the hated Philadelphia Flyers.
“We get excited and we play well against the Penguins,” Flyers coach Craig Berube said. “It’s one of those teams that bring out the best in us and we feel pretty comfortable in this building, that’s for sure.”
Sidney Crosby opened the scoring on the night with his 300th career goal but that was it for the Pens.
Brayden Schenn scored twice for Flyers in win over Pens – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“It’s nice to get the number,” Crosby said. “Obviously, it’s much nicer when you win. So [winning] is kind of more my focus than the number.”
Brayden Schenn scored twice for the Flyers to lead the offense.
“They’re not an easy [team] to play, first of all,” Schenn said. “They have great fans and they’re a great team. For whatever reason, we come in here and seem to do pretty well. It was a solid team effort. … Maybe these teams don’t like each other very much. Yeah, some games get a little more rough than others. We [play] them again Sunday and I’m sure they’re not going to be happy about this one.
“We expect to get [a rougher matchup] then.”
Steve Mason got the win on 24 saves.
Carlo Colaiacovo and Vincent Lecavalier also scored for the Flyers.
“Whatever it takes,” Colaiacovo said. “Our focus tonight was to be smart and stay out of the box. They have a pretty lethal power play they can throw out there. It is a rivalry, but play between the whistles. Whatever happens, happens. For the most part, we had great energy tonight. We did a lot of good things.
“At the end of the day, we fought hard to get the win.”
In San Jose, the Sharks kept their dim playoff hopes alive and also effectively doused the Colorado Avalanches’ hopes with a 5-1 win over the visitors.
The Sharks got goals from five different skaters including Scott Hannan, Chris Tierney, Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture and John Scott.
“We’re starting to get in a groove right now,” Tierney said. “The mindset is to keep going and take it game by game. If we keep playing the way we did, fast and supporting each other, we’ll get a lot of wins I think.”
Maybe optimistic but stranger things have happened as the Sharks trail the final spot in the west by five points with five games left in their season.
“We want to win all of them,” said Matt Duchene, who scored Colorado’s lone goal. “We want to give ourselves a chance until we’re mathematically eliminated.”
Alex Stalock made 19 saves for the win.
“Hopefully we can get a couple more wins here and make it interesting,” Scott said.
You must be logged in to post a comment.