Cody Hodgson scored his 20th goal of the season, reaching the 20 goal mark for the first time in his career. He also collected his 8th point in as many games, and the 8-game point streak is another career high for Hodgson. Mike Weber had an assist on that goal, giving him a career high 4-game point streak (1 goal, 3 assists). Marcus Foligno had the other assists.
And the positives for the Sabres ended there. Just when we thought this season couldn’t get any worse but maybe the injury bug was finally gone, today’s 4-1 loss to the Bruins delivered another blow. It’s almost a relief that there is only one game left. There was also the issue of penalties and the way they were called, such as Jake McCabe getting a 5-minute major and a 10-minute game misconduct for a clean hit on Daniel Paille.
It started just 20 seconds into the game, with Chris Stewart leaving on his first shift with a lower body injury. Most of the first period was OK, with the Sabres skating with the Bruins and playing strong defense. Boston only outshot the Sabres 9-7, but it was those 2 extra shots that made all the difference. Gregory Campbell scored first for the Bruins 16:54 into the first, and David Krejci scored about a minute and a half later to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead as the first period came to a close.
Things heated up in the second period, tempers as well as offense. Just 7:40 into the period, Milan Lucic took offense to a hit Matt D’Agostini made on Krejci. Lucic punched D’Agostini. D’Agostini tried to punch back, missed, and hit his own teammate, Christian Ehrhoff, instead. The refs came over to break it up, but as D’Agostini turned away, Lucic got in one more push from behind, knocking D’Agostini to the ice. Lucic got 2 minutes for roughing.
Scott was ready for Lucic when he came out of the box, but Zdeno Chara skated in to intervene. The refs stepped in before much happened, and Scott was given 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct, 2 minutes for roughing, and a 10-minute misconduct. What did Chara receive? Two minutes for hi-sticking.
Patrice Bergeron scored for the Bruins to give them a 3-0 lead once things were seemingly cleared up 11:43 into the second, but Hodgson’s goal came 13:58 into the period to bring the Sabres to a 3-1 deficit. Things seemed to quiet down after that, with Boston outshooting Buffalo 11-7 in the period. Brian Flynn also left with a lower body injury during the second.
But then came the third period. After Ehrhoff went to the dressing room with an injury, a clean hit by Jake McCabe 7:17 into the period knocked down Daniel Paille, and Campbell didn’t see it as clean. McCabe and Campbell started to mix it up along with a few other players from each team. When the refs settled things down, McCabe was given a 5-minute major for interference and a game misconduct. Campbell got 2 for roughing.
With 11:35 left in the third, the injury bug delivered another blow. This time, it was Matt Hackett, the Sabres’ fourth goalie to be injured this year. Jamie McBain was tripped up coming toward the goal and fell on Hackett’s leg. Hackett was in a world of pain and had to be taken out on a stretcher. Connor Knapp came in to make his NHL debut and finish the game. First he had to kill off the McCabe penalty, and he was unable to do so as a shot from Krejci bounced off his leg and into the net.
The Bruins finally got their own penalty when Shawn Thornton got 2 minutes for tripping Rasmus Ristolainen. The Sabres were unable to capitalize on the power play.
At 16:20 into the third, Scott and Chara exchanged a few words during the faceoff and were each given a game misconduct. The last 3 minutes and 40 seconds were played cleanly, with the Bruins getting the 4-1 win to clinch the Presidents Trophy and the Sabres falling to 21-51-9.
Their last game is tomorrow at home against the New York Islanders. Game time is 5:00pm. Connor Knapp will start in net. Who in the world is going to back him up?
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