The Buffalo Sabres got off to a quick start early in the game. Less than seven minutes in they took the lead. Zach Bogosian found a streaking Johan Larsson with a nice cross-ice pass. Larsson fired it by Jake Allen for his sixth of the season. Larsson Goal 1-0 Buffalo pic.twitter.com/9DjDmbjIqn — Ben Mathewson (@Ben_Mathewson) March 17, 2019 In typical Sabres fashion, the Blues tied things up just a few minutes later. Pat Maroon was allowed to skate freely through the Sabres defensive zone and he got out front with ease to beat Carter Hutton. The Sabres goaltender made a few nice saves after the goal on a push from the Blues. They’d get their lead back on a nice play by Evan Rodrigues. Alex Nylander made a nice pass to start the breakout up the ice and Rodrigues stepped around Colton Parayko. He released a sneaky quick shot that surprised Allen to make it 2-1 after 20 minutes. ERod goal replay 2 pic.twitter.com/0G1zeEtB0V — Ben Mathewson (@Ben_Mathewson) March 17, 2019 It was a pretty sleepy start to the second period, but the Sabres increased their lead to two goals. Brandon Montour and Rasmus Dahlin connected on an excellent breakout sequence. Nylander and Conor Sheary were off on a two on one. Nylander made a nice pass across to Sheary for his second assist of the game. Sheary Goal ( Dahlin breakout pass) 3-1 Buffalo pic.twitter.com/JFmVuoKUUz — Ben Mathewson (@Ben_Mathewson) March 17, 2019 The Blues, however, would get back within one again. Rasmus Ristolainen’s stick exploded (I know shocking) and the visitors were off the other direction. David Perron ripped a shot by Hutton to make it 3-2 and that’s how the period ended. The first half of the first period wasn’t much to write home about, but the intensity picked up late. The fourth line of Kyle Okposo, Zemgus Girgensons, and Johan Larsson got the fans into it with a shift where they hit everything on the ice. Both teams would proceed to exchange chances the final five minutes of the game, but nobody could break through. We headed to overtime and Carter Hutton made a handful of nice saves to keep his club from losing their eighth straight game. The Sabres almost won it in the final seconds, but Sam Reinhart put his shot off the post and it was off to a shootout. In the shootout, both Eichel and Reinhart scored. Hutton stopped two of the three Blues shooters, including Ryan O’Reilly to seal the victory for the Sabres. Final: Sabres 4, Blues 3 (SO) Shots on Goal: Sabres 34 | Blues 33 Sabres Goal Scorers: Johan Larsson (6), Evan Rodrigues (9), and Conor Sheary (13) Blues Goal Scorers: Pat Maroon (7), David Perron (18), and Brayden Schenn(14) Three Stars of the Game 1. Conor Sheary (1 G) 2. Alex Nylander (2 A) 3. Brandon Montour (1 A)<doc-sep>About the Sabres • With Linus Ullmark in goal Saturday in Carolina, it looks like it’ll be former Blue Carter Hutton in goal against Jake Allen. It won’t be the first time the former Blues teammates have squared off this season. On Dec. 27 in St. Louis, the Blues defeated the Sabres 4-1, with Allen stopping 30 of 31 shots for the Blues and Hutton allowing four goals in 32 shots.<doc-sep>Game 72 Buffalo Sabres (30-32-9) vs. St. Louis Blues (37-27-7) Puck Drop: 5:00 PM | KeyBank Center| Buffalo, NY TV: MSG-B, FSCR Radio: WGR 550 SB Nation Blues Blog: St. Louis Game Time Know Your Opponent St. Louis Blues Record: (37-27-7) | 81 PTS Last 10: 4-4-2 Division Ranking: 3rd in the Central Division Conference Ranking: 6th in the Western Conference PP: 13th (20.4%) PK: 9th (81.3%) What to Watch 1. The Return Ryan O’Reilly makes his return to Buffalo tonight for the first time since being traded last summer. He’s having a great first season for the Blues that appear to be headed for a playoff berth. He should get a good reaction from fans, but we’ll see. 2. Heading in different directions. The Blues are trending up and sit in a playoff position, a spot they were not in the last time these to clubs met. The Sabres, on the other hand, are riding a seven-game losing streak. Buffalo Sabres Forwards Jeff Skinner - Jack Eichel - Sam Reinhart Conor Sheary - Evan Rodrigues - Alex Nylander Tage Thompson - Casey Mittelstadt - Jason Pominville Zemgus Girgensons - Johan Larsson - Kyle Okposo Defense Rasmus Dahlin - Brandon Montour Zach Bogosian - Rasmus Dahlin Matt Hunwick - Casey Nelson Starting Goaltender: Carter Hutton St. Louis Blues Forwards Brayden Schenn - Ryan O’Reilly - David Perron Jaden Schwartz - Tyler Bozak - Patrick Maroon Alex Steen - Oskar Sundqvist - Robert Thomas Zach Sanford - Ivan Barbashev - Mackenzie MaCeachrn Defense Vince Dunn - Alex Pietrangelo Jay Bouwmeester - Colton Parayko Michael Del Zotto - Robert Bortuzzo Starting Goaltender: Jake Allen<doc-sep>BUFFALO, NY - MARCH 17: Pat Maroon #7 of the St. Louis Blues controls the puck against Casey Nelson #8 of the Buffalo Sabres during an NHL game on March 17, 2019 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Sara Schmidle/NHLI via Getty Images) The St. Louis Blues needed to get a second win in a row in Buffalo. As usual, they could not make things easy on themselves. The St. Louis Blues continue to prove they are not one of the elite teams in the NHL. While they are quite good, when at their best, they never seem to dispose of teams that are beneath them. Such was the case against the Buffalo Sabres. Similarly to their contests against Arizona and Ottawa, both of which ended in losses, the Blues came out well and took it to the opposition early. However, lack of success clouded their minds a little. Buffalo began to catch the Blues in counter attacks and would score two goals on transitions after the Blues either turned the puck over or missed a shot. St. Louis would score one, sandwiched in between, but all that good will was for nothing in the first period. Cons: Transition Goals And Turnovers What is it with this current Blues team and having awful luck when it comes to missed opportunities going the other way? Both of Buffalo’s first period goals went just that way. Both times, the Blues had chances in the offensive zone. Each time, something went wrong and the Sabres drove the puck the other way. The first one led to a partial odd-man rush. The Sabres made a great pass through the seam and popped one in on a one timer. It was a solid play by Buffalo, but the Blues always seem to forget about the backside these days. The second goal was a decent individual effort, as the shooter cut back toward the slot. However, you would like to see Colton Parayko stay on his feet instead of going down to one knee. He might have been better positioned to get a poke on it then. You would also like Jake Allen to make that save, but it was still a pretty good shot, into the side netting. The third goal was just as bad, overall. This one was not a missed chance by the Blues, but it was an odd-man rush for Buffalo. Again, they go right to left and the shot was buried over the glove hand. It is just very frustrating to have to pay for every missed opportunity. It is games like these that make you cringe with every missed shot because you fear it will spring down to the other end and be put in the back of your net. Beyond the goals themselves, the Blues were just far too careless with the puck. They gave the Sabres so many opportunities on a silver platter because they turned the puck over or did not get it in/out of the zone. Jaden Schwartz gave the puck away right in front of the goal, almost immediately after the Blues tied the game. You just cannot have those kind of mistakes this late in the year. Pros: Pat Maroon Give the Big Rig two goals in two games. This one ended in a little flashier fashion than in the Pittsburgh game. Pat Maroon bulldozed his way across the net and then in behind. You could tell Maroon was looking to pass the entire way when he came around the goal. He decided to keep hanging onto it and then used the space given to bury one just away from the blocker. That gave him two goals in two games. Maroon snapped another quality scoring opportunity from the slot midway through the second that was denied. Even so, you need him to be taking those kinds of shots as they are high percentage chances. Maroon also kept his physical play up too. Again, like many of his teammates, he is not really blasting people into the boards, but he is strong on the puck and heavy on opponents. Cons: Stupid Penalties Through two periods, the Blues were only in the box two times. Normally, you would take that and run. However, in this game, they were not penalties and the guys that went into the box did not need to put themselves in that position. It was just bad all around. One of the penalties, David Perron was actually the one that got held. Despite that, the referees somehow saw it the other way and threw Perron in the penalty box. In a perfect world, Perron would not have even put himself in that position. The two players were jostling behind the play and for whatever reason, the moment the ref saw it, he saw Perron do something apparently. Best to avoid that. It was a similar situation for Brayden Schenn. His hooking call was a little tap with the stick at best. Again, it was something that did not need to be called. However, also again, Schenn did not need to put himself in a position where the referee could even make a call. There was no need to even put your stick anywhere near the opponent in that spot. Overview This was another unnecessary loss to a bad team. I try so hard to give opponents credit for the game they played, but these are just sickening. Buffalo is not terrible, but they are another team on the outside of the playoff picture. The Blues lose this one, though they gain an important point, but that does not take the sting away. Nobody for the Blues ever looked comfortable in this game. Jake Allen did not play a bad game, but you could tell he was not sharp either. Despite making over 30 saves, his positioning was off and he seemed edgy and unsure. The same could be said of a lot of guys. They did not look like they wanted to make plays and then when they would try, it would be the wrong option.<doc-sep>
Blues Lineup: Forwards Brayden Schenn - Ryan O’Reilly - David Perron Pat Maroon - Tyler Bozak - Robert Thomas Jaden Schwartz - Oskar Sundqvist - Alexander Steen Mackenzie MacEachern - Ivan Barbashev - Zach Sanford Defense Vince Dunn - Alex Pietrangelo Jay Bouwmeester - Colton Parayko Michael Del Zotto - Robert Bortuzzo Goalie Jake Allen Game Highlights: First period - The Sabres get on the board first in this one. Johan Larsson received a cross ice pass from Zach Bogosian. Larsson beat Jake Allen making it 1-0 Sabres. Not sure what Schenn was doing either, but not a great look for the Blues early. Good ol’ hometown boy Pat Maroon tied the game at one on a goal right in front. Maroon skated behind the net for a moment and then brought the puck out. Maroon turned and fired a quick shot beating Sabres starter Carter Hutton. That goal is Maroon’s 200th point in the NHL. With five or so minutes remaining in the period Evan Rodrigues gave the Sabres a 2-1 lead. Parayko couldn’t get his stick in their to poke the puck away from Rodrigues. Rodrigues fired a wrist shot on net and it went in. Not great Bob. After one 2-1 bad guys. SOG were 10-9 in favor of the Sabres. Second Period - The Blues had two minutes of fresh ice to try and tie the game with a power play. Couldn’t do anything with it. (They were 0/2 on the day) The Sabres, however, did score to make it 3-1. The Blues gave up some odd man rushes today and this one finally burned them. Alexander Nylander and Conor Sheary move into the zone on a 2 on 1. Nylander dished the puck over to Sheary, and Sheary finished it up with a nice bow. After getting called for a penalty (questionable at best) David Perron stepped out on to the ice and collected the puck. With Bozak leading the way Perron skated in and fired an absolute rocket on goal. The puck bounced off the post and past Hutton to cut the Sabres lead down to just 3-2. Shots were 11-11 aside for the second period. Third Period - Brayden Schenn tied the game at three on a wrap around goal. It was reviewed for goaltender interference (not that anyone knows what that is anymore) but the goal stood as called and the Blues were right back in this one despite some sloppy play all game. Shots at the end of the period were 12-7 in favor of the Sabres. Nothing happened in the overtime period so this one went to a shootout. Sam Reinhart put the Sabres ahead in the shootout which would turn out to be the game winner. The Blues drop this one 4-3 in the shootout. Not a great road trip. That loss in Ottawa really hurt, but the Blues come home for (finally) an extended home stand. Goals - BUF: Larrsson (6) from Bogosian (15) and Girgensons (12), Rodrigues (9) from Nylander (1) and Montour (24), Sheary (13) from Nylander (2) and Dahlin (30) STL: Maroon (7) unassisted, Perron (18) from Parayko (15) and Schenn (14) from O’Reilly (43) and Del Zotto (7) From The Twit Machine: See, it’s really been a long time. That sounds right. No back to back home games since Jan. 8-10. #stlblues https://t.co/Wf5Gk20PuE — Lou Korac (@lkorac10) March 18, 2019 Pat Maroon is your Bobble beer winner. Pat Maroon enjoys his job of wearing downing the opponents and "making sure when they go back to the bench they're exhausted." #stlblues pic.twitter.com/M9yvUvHiux — FOX Sports Midwest (@FSMidwest) March 18, 2019 Doom and gloom is kinda our thing though. For all the doom and gloom, think about this: the #stlblues just finished a stretch of playing 22 of 30 road games. They went 13-5-4 in those 22 road games. — Lou Korac (@lkorac10) March 18, 2019 Player of the Game: Anyone who didn’t make some sort of St. Patricks day joke after Maroon scored. I kid I kid...kind of.