Streaks Broken as Sabres Pound Pittsburgh 4-1

April 2, 2013 · No Comments

DON’T GET ME STARTED saw a role reversal as Buffalo looked like the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Pens looked like the Buffalo Sabres.

Earlier in the day, fans gave out with a big Wow! When I heard that “Regier” left Buffalo, I immediately wondered how many fans rejoiced and speculated as to who the next General Manager might be. No such luck. It was the same sounding name as that of Darcy Regier = Robyn Reghr. The defenseman was traded to the Los Angeles Kings for a couple of draft picks…..in 2014 and 2015. That means that these picks might be taken by whoever will be the General Manager in those years.

With many fingers being crossed by the current Sabres who wait with all the fans for 3 p.m. to arrive on Wednesday to see if they are still members of the Sabres. Jason Pominville reportedly being asked to submit the 8 teams he will not want to go to if Darcy Regier intends to trade him.

The team responded by pounding the Pittsburgh Penguins into submission with probably the best they have played all season in winning 4-1 . That ended the Penguins 15-game winning streak; ended the Pens 3-game shutout streak while Buffalo ended its 4-game losing streak. If the Sabers played this way all season, they wouldn’t have to worry about not making the playoffs……and not worrying to see who will be the next one sent packing by Regier.

Kevin Porter Porter led the attack on Tomas Vokoun with a pair of goals in the first 34 minutes of play while Cody Hodgson and Steve Ott also put goals into the Pittsburgh cage. After 23 ½ minutes and giving up 4 goals, Vokoun was replaced by Marc Andre Fleury.

Even though Buffalo won, they didn’t make up any ground between themselves and 8^th place. That spot was taken by the New York Islanders who beat Winnipeg while Washington downed Carolina. Buffalo moved into a points tie for 10^th place with the Capitals and the Hurricanes. The Rangers dropped from 8^th to 9^th place in the Conference standings. All teams competing for a playoff spot have games in hand on the Sabres, a very important consideration.

As for the front office of the Sabres…….they let go of defensemen that Darcy Regier brought to Buffalo. First it was letting T.J. Brennan go to Florida; then Leopold was dispatched last week; and now Reghr going to the Kings. The way Darcy Regier is going, Buffalo is going to have a ton of picks…….nothing that will help them for the rest of this season and the ‘13-‘14 season. All those picks might not wear the blue and gold several years hence.

The game Tuesday night against Pittsburgh was the last one that will be played before the trading deadline arrives at 3 p.m. Wednesday and it was evident that the Sabres were playing to remain with the club.

With Pittsburgh trying to extend its shutout streak, the Pens were benefactors of a 4-minute power play. But it backfired when Jerome Iginla broke his stick in the neutral zone and the teams broke into the Buffalo zone. A blind Penguins pass landed on the stick of Kevin Porter in the high slot and Porter quickly sent a wrist shot that beat Tomas Vokoun at 10:24. It was Porter’s 1^st and the shot-handed tally gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead.

Still on that power play, a scramble in the Buffalo zone found Kunitz sending a quick pass to Iginla who batted his shot past Ryan Miller to tie the game 1-1 at 13:27.

Buffalo continued to press and at 18:10 Steve Ott took a pass from Jason Pominville and ripped a slap shot that beat Vokoun at 18:10 giving Buffalo a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period.

The Sabres usually timid second period was nothing but as they scored a pair of goals in the first 3 ½ minutes of the middle stanza and chasing Vokoun out of the game. At 2:21, Cody Hodgson wrapped his 13^th of the season to make it 3-1 at 2:21.

A minute later, Kevin Porter got his second of the night on a slap shot and that was it for the Penguins goalie giving Buffalo a 3-goal cushion, 4-1, at 3:28.

The only negative in the Sabres impressive win was that they failed to score on 5 straight power plays in the second and third period.

That was all the scoring as Buffalo dominated for three periods on Don’t Get Me Started.

Filed under: Buffalo Sabres, Don't Get Me Started