Sabres forward Matt Moulson carries the puck into the Anaheim zone early in the first period. The Sabres went on to lose 5-1. (PHOTOS BY HEATHER N. GRIMMER / ENP PHOTOGRAPHER)

BY SCOTT LEFFLER
scott.leffler@eastniagarapost.com

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BUFFALO -- A few minutes into the third period of this afternoon's NHL game between the Buffalo Sabres and the Anaheim Ducks, the visiting team had nearly four times as many shots as the Sabres.

Through two periods, the Sabres netminder Michael Neuvirth kept the Sabres in the game, despite the complete lack of offense by the home team. He had let in only two of the 29 shots he faced. His teammates had been held scoreless on their seven shots -- through two periods.

Then the Ducks cracked the game open with two early goals in the third period, going up 4-0 over the Sabres and making the crowd wonder if they could skip the rest of the game and go straight to the post-game fireworks.

Finally, the Sabres got on the board, waking the crowd up at 6:36 of the third period when Tyler Ennis banged one off Ducks goalie Frederik Anderson and into the net. Matt Moulson and Drew Stafford got assists on the goal.

The scoring started 15:30 into the first period when Anaheim's Corey Perry put one past Neuvirth on the power play. Patrick Maroon and Sami Vatanen got the assists.

In the second, the Ducks doubled up on a goal by William Karlsson 8:15 in. Hampus Lindholm and Jakob Silfverberg were awarded assists on the goal.

And it got worse. Matt Beleskey scored for the Ducks 2:56 into the third With assists by Ben Lovejoy and Ryan Getzlaf. Then Karlsson scored 18 seconds later, putting the Ducks up 4-0.

With 7:35 to go in the third, Anaheim's Ryan Kesler was given a penalty shot against Neuvirth, scoring, and putting the California team up 5-1, the final tally.

MORE ONLINE: More photos from today's Sabres/Ducks game are available here.

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