The Buffalo Sabres, owners of the worst record in the league played the second game of a rare back to back home game against the Bruins and stunned the B’s by scoring with 50 seconds left to tie it and winning in OT on a goal by Matt D’Agostini 22 seconds into the extra frame.
In a battle of the backup goalies, Buffalo was clearly outplayed in the second half of the game after going up 3-1. The Bruins stormed back with 3 straight goals to take the lead and appeared to toy with the Beefalos, playing a skilled game of keep away. With less than a minute left, the Sabres pulled their goalie and all of a sudden were able to cycle down low to score the equalizer, Matt Moulson putting it past Chad Johnson. Stunning collapse by the Bruins.
Even with the two consecutive victories, Buffalo is mired in last place and is sure to be a seller at the trade deadline coming up on March 5.
Speaking of stunning collapses, the last time the Sharks and Flyers squared off in San Jose, the Flyers mugged Los Tiburones with three tallies in 2:45 to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead. Philadelphia is on a four game winning streak and probably didn’t want to take a break for the Olympics. Owner Ed Snider and GM Paul Holmgren both publicly expressed their displeasure with the viewed the Olympic break. calling it “a detriment to the season with playoff races heating up before players headed to Sochi.”
The Flyers will see a different lineup tonight as the Sharks welcome back arguably their best player Logan Couture, returning from hand surgery, and Raffi Torres, who will surely make the Flyers keep their heads up because of his penchant for delivering tough, barely legal hits.
The Sharks are currently in second place in the Pacific division and the Flyers are holding down the last Metro playoff spot. Should be an entertaining tilt with a renewed commitment to hitting and tight checking.
Flyers Coach Craig Berube has the Flyers playing more of a throw back style to when he was a player in the 80s than former bench boss Peter Laviolette’s up tempo offensive game. It seems to be working as Philly has come back from a horrible start to be in the playoff hunt.
The Sharks are always in the hunt, just no Cup yet. San Jose fans never get too excited anymore about the regular season, we know that the only time it counts is in the second season, the NHL playoffs, approximately 47 days away.
Should be a heavy game, let em play refs!