The Sabres finally made one look easy, despite playing the dullest second period of the season. Buffalo chased Craig Anderson early and poured in five goals on Ottawa on their way to an easy victory.
Derek Roy continued his hot streak with a goal and two assists while the Subway Line continues to find the scoresheet on a nightly basis. This time it was Thomas Vanek making a nifty pass to Luke Adam for Buffalo’s fourth goal. of the evening.
The continued success of the Vanek-Adam-Pominville line is a nice luxury, the fact that the Leino-Roy-Stafford line has come to life is huge for this team. Leino, despite being fairly invisible for the first two periods, came to play in the third. His board work was fantastic and he manged to score his first goal in North America this season on a very nice three-on-two rush.
Buffalo’s defense was a completely different unit than the group that hit the ice on Tuesday. They made smart, easy plays with the puck and did a fantastic job protecting the house all night. Lindy Ruff mentioned it in his press conference, the Senators maybe had five or six quality chances all night.
The biggest beneficiary of the Sabres play in zone was Jhonas Enroth. The rookie turned away 36 shots, but few were of a great challenge to the netminder. Giving credit where it is due, Enroth made a few dazzling saves and turned in a gem for the Sabres last night. His play is exactly what they need and it seems as if he is going to be able to carry it on for some time.
- The only thing that would have kept Enroth in for tonight’s game against Boston would have been a shutout. Considering he played back-to-back last weekend, Ruff will not want to over work him too early on in the year. Still, he has put forth an excellent stretch of games and he has likely pushed his projected starts from 20-25 to 30+ for the year.
- Tyler Myers certainly wasn’t stellar last night. However, he played within himself and made good choices with the puck. I feel his play will take some time to come along again this year, I truly wonder if his offseason conditioning program is not up to snuff.
- Corey Topp will be returned to Rochester. However, his NHL debut was impressive. He manged to find the back of the net, was on for a couple of goals for and was generally effective in his role. I would imagine he will see at least 15 games this season due to injury.
- I think Ville Leino’s season is finally ready to begin. He was shuffled to four different lines before settling on the wing with Roy and Stafford. This appears to be the right spot for him as his playmaking seems to be back on track. Prime example: he led the three-on-two and made a slick pass to Stafford before eventually depositing the rebound for his second goal of the season. That type of play is what people are expecting from him, I would imagine that this will continue now that he has found a comfort zone.
- With Pat Kaleta returning tonight, I really hope Lindy Ruff places him with Matt Ellis and Cody McCormick. Not only do those three play a hard-nosed style without ever quitting, the Gerbe-Gaustad-Boyes line has been very impressive during Kaleta’s absence. It seems obvious that Boyes has recated well to both of his promotions (Gaustad line and power play) and will continue to play well with talented players. You don’t lose as much with Kaleta skating on the fourth line as you do when Boyes is on that line.
Three Stars
1. Derek Roy
2. Jhonas Enroth
3. Drew Stafford
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