Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – As the Buffalo Sabres get ready to play Game 3 of their best of seven series in Boston on Thursday the reality is, they got dominated in Buffalo and are lucky to be 1-1 in the series. <\/p>\n
In two games Buffalo has been ahead for a grand total of 3:24. They have not been able to solve Boston\u2019s relentless forecheck for any length of time as it seems like the Bruins have six skaters out there defending.<\/p>\n
The thing that won the Sabres a hockey game was they more physical team in Game 1 and it wore down the Bruins. That allowed Buffalo to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead in just eight minutes.<\/p>\n
Boston rarely let up in Game 2 allowing their goaltender Jeremy Swayman to become a spectator for most of the game. He handled easy shots except for the very beginning and very end of the game. Many in the Boston media are acting like he\u2019s been Patrick Roy in this series, he hasn\u2019t and he hasn\u2019t needed to be. <\/p>\n
The task for Lindy Ruff and his staff is how can they solve Boston\u2019s pressure to get up ice and into the offensive zone? The good news is the Sabres have been excellent this season at solving pressure and there\u2019s no reason to believe they can\u2019t do it now. <\/p>\n
Ruff mentioned that his team has been very good on the road this season and he\u2019s right. Buffalo was sixth in the NHL with 52 points. The problem is Boston is second at home with 59 points, just one point in back of the Carolina Hurricanes. <\/p>\n
I would have trouble not starting Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for Game 3. He was lights out from Dec. 9 until the second period of Game 2. In the first period he stopped two clean cut breakaways and then he had a horrific second period. He let a backhand shot from the red line by Morgan Geekie bounce in front of him and get by. It was only one period, but maybe he could use a night off and Ruff can see if Lyon can step up like he has most of this season.<\/p>\n
Ruff really liked when his two goaltenders alternated so it wouldn\u2019t shock me to see that happen again.<\/p>\n
It seems like Noah Ostlund is ready to go. I thought Josh Dunne was the right move against a physical Boston team, but quite honestly, he has declined to get involved when challenged. That leads me to believe that his injury could still be bothering him because Dunne is always willing to answer the bell for a teammate or when it\u2019s warranted. <\/p>\n
Ostlund is an extremely smart player who might help the Sabres beat pressure when he\u2019s on the ice. He supports other teammates which helps get the puck out. He\u2019s also played in the playoffs in the SHL and the AHL, so I don\u2019t think that would be a problem.<\/p>\n
The Bruins have done a terrific job taking away Rasmus Dahlin. The Sabres captain is being talked about as a Norris Trophy candidate and he should be. Sometimes hockey is like chess, Boston has made its move, it\u2019s Dahlin\u2019s turn to counter. I don\u2019t think the Sabres can win this series if he can\u2019t find a way to get to his game. He by no means has been awful. He’s been fine, but he hasn’t reached that final gear the makes him different than most of the rest. <\/p>\n
Before the series started, Bruins coach Marco Sturm said if they let him, Dahlin will destroy them. They haven\u2019t let him. <\/p>\n
Buffalo also needs quite a bit more out of Josh Norris. He\u2019s in the playoffs for the first time and it shows. <\/p>\n
The old saying is your best players must be your best players. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – As the Buffalo Sabres get ready to play Game 3 of their best…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[95,229,5,104,7800,60626],"class_list":{"0":"post-558208","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-boston-bruins","9":"tag-buffalo-sabres","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-stanley-cup-playoffs","12":"tag-ukko-pekka-luukkonen","13":"tag-wgr"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116450281689192592","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}