Ryan Miller stopped shots all night. The last three he faced may have been the most difficult, but the young goaltender from Lansing, Michigan was not fazed, stopping the first two shots aimed at his five-hole and robbing Kristian Huselius blind to lift Buffalo to victory. Ales Kotalik, the 28 year old Czech, scored the only shootout goal for Buffalo. It was only fitting, seeing as Calgary backstop Miikka Kiprusoff made an incredible save to stop Kotalik from winning the game in the overtime period. The snap shot was about thirty feet out from the point.
The overtime period wasn't expected, however. The teams were deadlocked at zero after the first period, but 3:45 into the second, Huselius beat Miller on the power play for the game's first goal. Jason Pominville was guilty of the powerplay, getting called for tripping at around the three minute mark. Buffalo came back with three minutes remaining in the second, with Thomas Vanek scoring with help from Derek Roy and Dmitri Kalinin, leaving the teams knotted at one after the second period.
The third period gave the Sabres a scare, though. About seven minutes in, the electric Maxim Afinigenov was put in the box for high sticking. With Buffalo shorthanded again, Calgary took advantage. Scoring their second powerplay goal was David Moss, leaving Buffalo in a very difficult situation. Down by one and facing a legitimate-at-worst defense, with one of the best goaltenders in the game today, and the time shrinking, Buffalo certainly had their work cut out for them. With three and a half left in the last period, Daniel Briere gave Buffalo that late breath of life, squeezing an excellent backhand shot short side on Kiprusoff. Briere was fed on the left side of the net after Jochen Hecht squeezed off a check to push the puck deep in the slot. Briere snared it, took a stride out front of the net and shoveled the puck in.
In overtime, Buffalo's defense really tightened up, allowing no registered shots. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that Calgary didn't put a scare on. Craig Conroy(a Potsdam, NY native) rang a shot off the bar that careened into a great scoring chance for Buffalo with just under a minute left. Kiprusoff showed why he is the reigning Vezina winner, stealing the game from defenseman Toni Lydman's stick.
Overall, I have to say both teams really played excellent hockey and executed well. Although Buffalo didn't stop Huselius, Calgary didn't stop Briere, and they seemed to even each other out. The X-factor was Buffalo's defense, tightening as the game went on.
Buffalo 3 (38-15-4 = 80)
Calgary 2 (SO) (29-18-8 = 66)
Three Stars
I disagreed with the NHL's choices, so I redid them.
1. Miikka Kiprusoff - 32 saves, 4 /4 saves shorthanded, and 1/1 on a legitimate save on the powerplay. No goalie would have saved Briere's goal. Brought the Flames to the shootout when easily could have lost in OT. Provided an excellent shootout performance, even though his career record in shootouts is awful (1-11)
2. Daniel Briere - Good performance, good time on ice. Solid defense, and clutch goal. Need I say more?
3. Roman Hamrlik - Excellent defense. Skated for nearly 28:00, which is a very long time, even for a defenseman. Had 2 assists in the game.
Sometimes Wins Come With Losses
The Sabres win that pushed them in the league lead for points came with horrible news. Second year center Paul Gaustad(9+13 = 22) is lost for the remainder of the season with a torn tendon in his lower leg. The playmaker/team tough guy collided with Dany Heatley in the Ottawa game last week and missed last night's game to get checked out.
Also, Jaroslav Spacek, in his first year with the Sabres after leaving the Stanley Cup runner up Edmonton Oilers, broke his hand while blocking a hard shot in the first period. Spacek was in his third game back after healing from a knee injury.
Nashville Takes a Plate of Defeat with a Double Scoop of Irony
Nashville, the NHL's points leaders going into Saturday's games (79), looked poised to hold that lead for at least another night as they hosted the worst of the Western conference, the Los Angeles Kings (18-30-9 = 45). The Kings came out to improve upon their current unbeaten streak (2-0-3) and did just that. After a scoreless first, the Kings exploded with three goals in the second led by sensational rookie Anze Kopitar. Nashville tried to play catch up but could only muster one goal, and fell 4 - 1 to the visitors. With the loss, Nashville surrendered the points lead to Buffalo, who control it for the third time this season.
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Alright.. Awesome job once again.. Gave me a good summary of what went on while I was working. Thank God I got to catch the remainder of the 3rd and the OT and SO (I made sure I was home for that). I agree that Miller put in a great game and played 100% out there. He's a fantastic goalie, and I hope that he is helping to pull these guys out of their rut as much as anyone else. His SO performances never cease to amaze me. I love that he makes almost every single player commit to their move before he commits to his. That makes all the difference.
I am VERY upset that we lost the Goose, but that's all part of the game. We now have to get our young guys out there and see that they have some big shoes to fill. Pat, as we talked about the other day he's one of those no name players that people don't pay a lot of attention to, but we will miss him. He was a force to be reckoned with, and we have some large shoes to fill with that loss.
Let's go Buffalo!!
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