Simply put, the Buffalo Sabres gave the game away in their 4-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

On numerous occasions, particularly on the power play, the Sabres were careless with the puck and gave the Hurricanes numerous chances on the counter attack. Lindy Ruff said he counted five shorthanded opportunities against. There were at least that many in a game where the Sabres gave up two shorthanded breakaways due to careless play at the offensive blue line.

” We were trying things we didn’t need to try,” Ruff said. ” We pushed too hard in situations where we didn’t have to push.”

Ruff went so far as to say his team played stupid at times. It is hard to disagree with his assessment. The Sabres were only credited with five giveaways, but that is an extremely generous number based upon the counterattack the Hurricanes were generating.Ruff cited back passes and forced plays as the contributor for his team’s struggles.

“Those types of plays, you hope. They are [10% plays] and we burned ourselves.”

The Sabres fed off the raucous crowd at the First Niagara Center and scored an early goal, just 6:28 into the first period. However, another nasty trend that plagued the Sabres bit them as Carolina answered just one minute and twenty two seconds later. The Canes scored the winning goal one minute and three seconds after Drew Stafford had tied the game in the third period.

Buffalo was the better team for much of the contest. They dominated much of the play early on, generating 13 shots in the first period alone. The Hurricanes also put 13 shots on goal in the period thanks to a pair of power plays.

Vanek and Derek Roy tallied the two Sabres’ goals and it seemed as though Buffalo would cruise to an early victory. The Sabres had all the momentum and had continued to create quality chances on a late power play before Brandon Sutter capitalized on the first of Carolina’s shorthanded goals. Sutter jumped on a puck that Vanek fumbled at the blue line and beat Miller with a great shot to the glove side.

The shorthanded party continued all night for Carolina. The Canes were quick to jump into passing lanes against Buffalo’s umbrella set up. Perhaps what killed the Sabres was the depth their defensemen were playing on the power play. Often the backside defender would be well below the dots when the Canes would start a counter attack. This led to the breakaways and 2-on-1s and a pair of Hurricanes’ goals.

Buffalo will face another strong penalty killing team tomorrow night in Pittsburgh. The Penguins are an aggressive killing team that is not afraid to push out on point men and wingers playing the side boards. Ruff and company will need to make some adjustments to avoid giving up a plethora of shorthanded opportunities again.

• Cam Ward was the better of the two goaltenders tonight. Aside from his 39 saves, Ward came up with at least five sparkling stops that should have been sure goals for Buffalo. Ryan Miller was strong, turning aside 30 shots, but he didn’t come up with the big saves Ward made on the evening. Namely, a split save on 2-on-1 between Luke Adam and Vanek. The play came after Bryan Allen shook up Jason Pominville. The Hurricanes scored their first shorthanded goal on the ensuing kill.
• The Sabres utilized quite a few of their offensively gifted forwards on the penalty kill tonight. Vanek and Drew Stafford saw regular time on the kill along with Derek Roy. While Roy has seen time killing penalties throughout his career, Vanek and Stafford are bit green. It showed at times tonight. The rotation on the kill was out of sync for much of the evening and it seemed as if the Sabres couldn’t settle in when killing penalties. Jochen Hecht’s return will do wonders for that unit.
• Christian Ehrhoff got trapped low in the zone more than any other defenseman on the power play tonight. He eliminated his shooting angle far too often as Marc-Andre Graganani became the trigger man for the top unit. Beside the fact that Gragnani struggled for most of the game, the reason Ehrhoff is here is to shoot the puck. If he gets to the top of the umbrella the power play will continue to benefit.
• Tyler Myers had a quietly efficient game. He made the play that led to Stafford’s tying goal and was relatively strong on the puck most of the night. No complaints regarding his play.
• The Ennis-Leino-Stafford line is going to produce points. They were nearly impossible to contain in a low cycle, if they pull the trigger more often they will put up big numbers.
• I would start Jhonas Enroth tomorrow in Pittsburgh. He has had a long layoff and Miller wasn’t stellar this evening. There is no “hot hand” to turn to. Get Enroth a game now and keep his mind, and game, sharp.
• There is no reason to think the Sabres will not put forth a better defensive effort against the Penguins tomorrow. While Pittsburgh has owned the Sabres in recent years – mainly due to Marc-Andre Fleury – the Sabres have a good benchmark for what they need to change after tonight.

Three Stars

1. Jeff Skinner

2. Drew Stafford

3. Cam Ward

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