MVN - Most Valuable Network

Roy leads Sabres to shootout win to stay in playoff hunt

After losing to Ottawa in Buffalo Tuesday night, the Sabres needed to win the second half of the home and home to keep up in the playoff race. It took a gutsy effort, but Buffalo skated away from Scotiabank Place with two points Thursday night.

In a return to his hometown, Derek Roy keyed the win with two assists and the game-wining goal in the shootout, lifting Buffalo to a 4-3 win.

Buffalo sits in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, three points behind ninth-place Washington, who won in overtime. Philadelphia and Boston hold down seventh and eighth and are both five points ahead of the Buffalo. The Bruins knocked off Toronto last night.

Ottawa opened up the scoring seven minutes into play during 4-on-4 action. Jason Spezza streaked down the ice on a breakaway and beat Ryan Miller low glove side. Buffalo, fighting for their playoff lives, answered quickly. A loose puck sat in front of Martin Gerber and Maxim Afinogenov managed to jab it into the net just 55 seconds after Spezza’s goal.

Momentum stayed the Sabres’ way when the team went on the power play later in the period. Jason Pominville ripped a slap shot from the point, creating a big rebound that Jochen Hecht put home for goal No. 22 of the year.

Ottawa tied the game up in the second period, after Mike Fisher slipped behind Buffalo’s defenders and put a backhand by Miller.

Fisher put the Senators ahead early in the third period, taking a nice pass from Antoine Vermette and tipping it home. Ottawa nearly put the game away a few minutes later when Martin LaPointe led an odd-man rush. LaPointe bombed a slap shot from the right side causing Miller to make a blocker stop with the puck coming loose momentarily. The reliable goalie covered up with a forward right on top of him to keep the game in reach.

Things looked dismal until Paul Gaustad came up with the game-tying goal. Drew Stafford’s original shot was easily turned aside by Gerber. But, Gaustad took the rebound behind the net for a wrap around that beat the goalie.

Through regulation and overtime, Gerber was phenomenal stopping 37 shots, while Miller needed to turn aside just 25. But, neither team could score in the extra period sending it to a shootout. Coming into the contest, the Sabres were 2-9 in shootouts.

Antoine Vermette and Ales Kotalik were both stopped in the first round and Daniel Alfredsson couldn’t get the puck by Miller either. The captain, Pominville fired a quick shot from just inside the slot that went off the post and in.

Spezza made things interesting, scoring to tie the shootout. However, Roy would end it with a brilliant move to his forehand. If the game were in HSBC Arena the roof might have come off, but since it was in Ottawa only silence and a few groans came from the crowd.

The Sabres now have five games to play and five points to gain. Buffalo hosts Montreal Friday night and Boston on Sunday night. The game against the Bruins will be critical in moving up in the standings.

My Three Stars

1. Derek Roy - 2 assists and the GWG in shootout
2. Martin Gerber - 37 saves
3. Jason Pominville - shootout goal and one assist

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 11:09 pm and is filed under Jason Pominville, Derek Roy, Ottawa Senators, Game stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.