Once again, the Sharks have been beaten by the Buffalo Sabres.
As absurd as it seems, the Sharks haven’t always had it easy against Buffalo, but for the first time in a long time, San Jose had the chance to take the series against the Sabres as they met for the second and final time this season. In their first meeting of the season back in November, the Sharks beat the Buffalo 2-1 in overtime.
Unfortunately for the San Jose, the Sabres’ frustrating hold on the Sharks could not be broken. A goal late in the third by Zach Bogosian put Buffalo up 2-1 , and San Jose just couldn’t catch up.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic put the Sharks on the board 1 minuted 28 seconds into the opening period. Vlasic’s blast saucered beyond the reach of Sabres’ netminder, Chad Johnson, to give the Sharks an early 1-0 lead.
Vlasic’s early goal:
Buffalo managed to outshoot the Sharks in the 1st period, but San Jose managed to hang on to their one goal lead through the remainder of the period.
The Sabres answered back late in the 2nd period. An unlucky break for the Sharks led to Johan Larsson pushing Brian Gionta’s tricking shot past Sharks goaltender Martin Jones. The puck took an awkward bounce, and just snuck past Jones. Gionta got the only assist on equalizer.
The 1-1 deadlock bled over into the 3rd period.
The Sharks beefed up their attack in the third, getting handful of quality chances against Johnson and the Sabres. Despite the Sharks third period dominance, the Sabres, who had won four in a row at the Shark Tank prior to this match-up, were the ones who got the tie-breaker to make it 2-1.
The goal went to Zach Bogosian, assisted by Zemgus Girgensons at 12:36 in the 3rd period.
Forced to come from behind to break the Sabre curse, San Jose pulled Jones with two minutes left to try and tie it up. Buffalo scored their third goal of the night, an empty netter. Evander Kane getting the easy goal from Bogosian.
One year the Sharks will sweep the season series against the Sabres, and we’ll all be there to witness it and it will be marvelous, but not this year.
Sharks Goal (Assists): Marc-Edouard Vlasic (Matt Nieto)
Sharks Saves: Martin Jones – 19 saves.
[Fancy Stats] – [Sabres Reaction] – [Event Summary] – [PBP Log] – [TOI Log] – [Faceoff Report]
Fear the Fin Three Stars:
1. Chad Johnson
2. Zach Bogosian
3. Marc-Edouard Vlasic
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