VIDEO: Ducks Unable To Find Success As Sabres Win 3-1

By: Matthew Garcia

The Buffalo Sabres (0-3-1) would be in town as the Anaheim Ducks (2-2-1) would play host in Sunday’s NHL matchup. The Ducks who are coming off a 3-1 loss against the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night would look rebound and keep the Sabres out of the win column. It would be a daunting task as the Ducks would now be without the services of Patrick Eaves, on top of several other players such as Ryan Getzlaf, Ondrej Kase, Ryan Kesler, Sami Vatanen, Hampus Lindholm, and backup goaltender Ryan Miller. The good news is that John Gibson would return to the crease for the Ducks after leaving the game in Colorado after the first period. Chad Johnson would be the man in net for the Sabres.

Period 1: 

Much like the game in Colorado, the Sabres would come out of the gates flying, testing Gibson very early in the game and it would pay off as recently recalled Justin Bailey would pot a rebound past Gibson after a botched cover saw the puck pop out into the front of the goal before being backhanded into a yawning net giving the Sabres a 1-0 lead just 1:26 into the game. Later in the period, the Ducks would be living right as an Evander Kane shot would bounce off the boards and into the crease behind Gibson who would eventually locate it under his body and get the whistle. The Ducks would be outshot 13-7 in the first and would fail on two power-play opportunities.

Period 2: 

The Ducks would get an early power play as Kane would sit for a slashing penalty just 53 seconds into the middle frame, but the Ducks would be unable to get things going and would fall to 0-3 on the night in the PP department. Late in the period, the Ducks would draw even as Chris Wagner would chase down a loose puck, open up Johnson, before potting it five-hole to tie the game at one on a short-handed bid. However, the tie would not last long as Benoit Pouliot would take advantage of the defensive zone turnover by the Ducks and would get a favorable puck bounce off a Ducks defenseman, up and over the pad of Gibson and into the back of the net. Ducks would be outshot 11-10 in the middle frame and would be unable to convert on two power-play chances.

Period 3:

The Ducks would be looking to get on the board early in the third and try to take hold of the game against a Sabres team who is on the tail end of back-to-back games would be unable to do so as they were having a very difficult time maintaining offensive zone pressure. The best opportunity for Anaheim came late in the third period with Gibson pulled as Derek Grant would wire a puck on net that Johnson would just get a piece of with his catching glove. Despite several empty net opportunities that would miss, it would be Johan Larsson to find the empty net with just 34 seconds left giving the Sabres a 3-1 lead. The final horn would sound and the Sabres would collect their first win of the year against a depleted Anaheim team.

Analysis:

The Ducks would find themselves on the wrong side of the eight ball again very early in the contest and would not be able to take advantage of a Sabres team on a tail end of back-to-back games. The positive out of this game is that the Ducks would be much more disciplined as they would only have three penalties levied against them the entire game as opposed to Friday night where they found themselves short-handed eight different times. The glaring takeaway is that the Ducks would once again be unable to convert on the power play despite receiving four chances. The Ducks power play would enter the game 30th in the league as to this point hadn’t converted on 17 powerplay chances. After tonight the Ducks dropped to 0-for-21 on the power play. Moving forward if the Ducks are to find success with a very depleted lineup they will need to focus on the power play as special teams is a key contributor to victory, especially with all the injuries that they are faced with.

Injury Tracker:

Ryan Getzlaf – Lower-body injury. Listed as day-to-day

Patrick Eaves – Lower-body injury. Listed as day-to-day

Ondrej Kase – Upper-body injury. IR

Ryan Miller – Upper-body injury. IR

Ryan Kesler – Lower-body injury. IR

Sami Vatanen – Upper-body injury. Listed as day-to-day

Hampus Lindholm – Upper-body injury. Listed as day-to-day

What’s Next?

The Ducks will get some much-needed rest and a chance to get some injured players back as they are not in action until Friday as they will play host to the Montreal Canadiens (1-3-1) at 7 PM PT.

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October 16th, 2017

Filed under: Ducks News Tagged: Anaheim Ducks, buffalo sabres, ducksnpucks