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Thursday, March 26, 2015
By +Scott Leffler
scott.leffler@eastniagarapost.com
BUFFALO — Just 56 seconds into overtime, the puck is hurled towards the net, passed the netminder for the winning goal. And the crowd goes wild, thrilled because their team — the Buffalo Sabres — just lost.
The race to the bottom of the NHL paired the Buffalo Sabres and Arizona Coyotes tonight at First Niagara Center, where both teams — or at least their fans — hoped to lose the game so they might win the battle (for Connor McDavid or David Eichel).
The overtime loss helped the Sabres' odds in finishing last in the league, increasing their chances of taking one of the two top prospects in the 2015 draft.
Arizona scored first at 7:55 of the first period. The Jordan Szwarz goal was assisted by Kyle Chipchura and Craig Cunningham. Tyler Ennis tied it for Buffalo at 10:49, assisted by Matt Moulson and Johan Larsson.
In the second period, Buffalo took the lead on a Rasmus Ristolainen power play goal, assisted by Ennis and Brian Gionta at 8:37. Arizona tied it up at 11:29 on an Oliver Ekman-Larsson goal, assisted by Martin Erat and Mark Arcobello. They took the lead at 14:20 when David Moss scored, assisted by Sam Gagner.
Brian Gionta tied it back up for the Sabres at 16:23 of the third period, sending the game into overtime where Gagner scored the game winner, assisted by Ekman Larsson and John Moore.
With the overtime loss, the Sabres record stands at 20-46-8, while Arizona is now at 23-44-8. With eight games to go, the Sabres are not six points behind Arizona, who still has seven games to play. Edmonton, with 55 points, is also still in the McDavid/Eichel Sweepstakes, although at seven points ahead of the Sabres, it looks unlikely that they'd finish last.
The Blue & Gold have another game to play against Arizona Monday in Arizona. Prior to that, they play the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.
NOTES:
scott.leffler@eastniagarapost.com
The race to the bottom of the NHL paired the Buffalo Sabres and Arizona Coyotes tonight at First Niagara Center, where both teams — or at least their fans — hoped to lose the game so they might win the battle (for Connor McDavid or David Eichel).
The overtime loss helped the Sabres' odds in finishing last in the league, increasing their chances of taking one of the two top prospects in the 2015 draft.
Arizona scored first at 7:55 of the first period. The Jordan Szwarz goal was assisted by Kyle Chipchura and Craig Cunningham. Tyler Ennis tied it for Buffalo at 10:49, assisted by Matt Moulson and Johan Larsson.
In the second period, Buffalo took the lead on a Rasmus Ristolainen power play goal, assisted by Ennis and Brian Gionta at 8:37. Arizona tied it up at 11:29 on an Oliver Ekman-Larsson goal, assisted by Martin Erat and Mark Arcobello. They took the lead at 14:20 when David Moss scored, assisted by Sam Gagner.
Brian Gionta tied it back up for the Sabres at 16:23 of the third period, sending the game into overtime where Gagner scored the game winner, assisted by Ekman Larsson and John Moore.
With the overtime loss, the Sabres record stands at 20-46-8, while Arizona is now at 23-44-8. With eight games to go, the Sabres are not six points behind Arizona, who still has seven games to play. Edmonton, with 55 points, is also still in the McDavid/Eichel Sweepstakes, although at seven points ahead of the Sabres, it looks unlikely that they'd finish last.
The Blue & Gold have another game to play against Arizona Monday in Arizona. Prior to that, they play the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.
NOTES:
- The Sabres scored two power-play goals tonight and have now scored a power-play goal in five of their last six games, going 6-for-21 (28.6%) during that stretch.
- With his goal tonight, Tyler Ennis has a goal in each of his last three games against the Coyotes. Ennis left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury.
- Matt Moulson recorded an assist tonight and now has eight points (3+5) in his last eight games.
- Moulson hasn't gone two home games without recording a point since Jan. 13 and 15 and now has 11 points (2+9) in his last 13 home games since then.
- With a goal and an assist, Brian Gionta now has seven points (3+4) in his last six games. It is his most prolific six-game stretch since March 2013.
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