Sabres on Bumpy Ride; Fall to Devils

The roller coaster ride continues for the Buffalo Sabres. Win, loss, win, loss. The Buffalo Sabres haven’t won back to back games now since before the Milan Lucic incident. It just always seems like this team is going through motions. They are coming up with chances but besides Thomas Vanek no one is scoring at a consistent pace.

The latest version of the Sabres couldn’t get more than one goal past Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils in a 3-1 loss Wednesday Night.

The Sabres got down 1-0 in the first period and looked out of sync. The Devils were sluggish as well though making it anyone’s game.

The second period started and right away the Devils jumped on the Sabres making it 2-0 with a goal by Petr Sykora (his 2^nd of the night) who is back in the NHL and playing fine hockey.

Before the Devils made it 3-0, Luke Adam deflected a puck into the net. The call on the ice was no goal. On replay it was very hard to tell if the puck was hit in above the crossbar or not, however somehow in Toronto they reviewed the goal as quick as ever and ruled it “no goal.” In the end the Sabres couldn’t worry about it, but the Devils scored again, this time Zach Parise cashed in.

Right when it looked like the Sabres were on their way to another blowout on the road to go with the Columbus and Pittsburgh loss, Eric Boulton delivered a dirty hit to Andrej Sekera along the boards. Cody McCormick jumped right on the Devils forward and a minor brawl broke out. Pat Kaleta and Paul Gaustad were also involved.

Because of the boarding penalty, the Sabres got a power play where Thomas Vanek put one in to give the Sabres a jump and put them on the board. Andrej Sekera however would not return to the game and was out with an upper-body injury.

The Sabres played better until the end of the second but in the third they really never seemed to find their rhythm. Ryan Miller made some nice saves but it wasn't enough to rally his offense.

The Sabres will have a chance to bounce back against the team they beat Monday night in the Washington Capitals. It’s hard to say what is a must win half-way through a year, but at this point, every game needs to be thought of as a must win; That is if the Sabres have any playoff hopes in mind.