On a night where a commuter plane crashed into a residential home in Buffalo, killing 50 people, the Buffalo Sabres felt that the best way to relieve the pain was to play in front of their fans to get their minds off the troubles. Climbing up the playoff ladder will temporarily keep thoughts off the tragedy, as the Sabres and the San Jose Sharks flexed their offensive muscles, taking a high scoring game into the shootout, where eventually Buffalo won with 2 shootout goals on 4 attempts to get the extra point in the standings and secure a much needed home win 6-5.
The game was Buffalo's to lose at the very start, as they scored 3 straight goals in the first period, 2 within the first half. Adam Mair scored first for the Sabres, followed by Jaroslav Spacek on the power play 2 minutes later. Then, Derek Roy scored his 100th career goal on the power play, and Buffalo took a daunting 3-0 lead against a Sharks team that was being outshot and outplayed. But with 2 minutes left in the game, at the very end of the power play, San Jose captain Patrick Marleau shot the puck into the top corner of the goal with Joe Thorton screening Ryan Miller to give some life to San Jose going into the second period.
Ales Kotalik responded in the second, again on the power play, and blasted a shot from the point past Evgeni Nabokov to once again give Buffalo a 3 goal lead. But a minute later, Marleau answered once again for San Jose, after a wide shot went on Thorton's stick, who made a quick pass to Marleau across Miller to cut the lead down to 2. Then with under a minute left in the second, Dan Boyle took a long pass from Thorton, outmuscled a Buffalo defender, and roofed the puck past Miller to make it a 1 goal game going into the third period.
Buffalo's near perfect record of going into the third period with a lead seemed to be lost when the Sharks came hot out of the gates. On a bad high-sticking call, the Sharks went on their second power play of the night. Boyle carried the puck behind the net, created space, and passed the puck across ice to a wide open Devin Setoguchi, who blasted a one-timer past Miller to tie the game at 4-4. Then, Joe Pavelski created a turnover along the boards, maneuvered the puck in between 3 Buffalo skaters, and wristed the puck past Miller to give San Jose their first lead of the game 5-4. The Sharks played defensively for the last minute and a half when Buffalo pulled their goaltender for the extra skater. But with 3.9 seconds left, Craig Rivet, Buffalo's captain and an ex-Shark, shot the puck from the point that went off Jason Pominville's stick and into the net to send the game to overtime. No scoring happened in the 5 minutes, and Pominville scored the first shootout goal on Buffalo's third attempt with a hard shot that rang off the crossbar over Nabokov's glove and into the net. Marleau answered right back, pulling Miller from left to right and finally back-handed the shot over Miller's glove. But Derek Roy did almost the exact same thing, going from left to right and backhanding a shot over Nabokov to give the Sabres the advantage. Milan Michalek was stuffed by Miller on his attempt and Buffalo got the much needed extra point to give a little cushion between themselves and 9th place in the Eastern Conference.
The loss gives San Jose 5 losses in the past 6 games, and their second in a row after an emotional win over Boston 3 nights ago. However, 4 of the 5 losses were in overtime or shootout, with the lone exception being their home loss against the Chicago Blackhawks the Saturday before the Super Bowl. The Sharks now have 83 points with 53 games played, trailing only behind the Boston Bruins who have 85 points in 55 games. The Sabres scored on their first 3 power plays, which ended San Jose's streak of 12 straight successful penalty kills. San Jose was a perfect 2 for 2 on the power play. Joe Thorton had 4 assists to lead the Sharks in points, while Craig Rivet had 3 on the night, and almost had the game-winner in overtime. Pominville's last second goal was his first in 17 games, in which he had 13 assists but no goals. The Sharks were playing without Marcel Goc, their top faceoff man, who was injured during the win in Boston. Their next game will be their last game on their season high 5 game road trip, where they will play against the Atlantic Division leading New Jersey Devils, before going home on Tuesday to host the Edmonton Oilers.
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