Sabres come back twice to earn a point in overtime loss on Broadway
Close….But Not Enough
The Sabres once again started from behind the eight-ball, surrendering the first two goals to the Rangers Ryan Lindgren and Artemi Panarin, but erased the deficit by early in the second period on goals from Rasmus Dahlin and Jack Quinn. Mika Zibanejad put New York back up in the second, but Casey Mittelstadt tied the game in the third. Buffalo with their resilience came back twice to earn a point in a very difficult game, but their issue continues to be their slow starts.
Questionable Officiating
The most puzzling point of the game came midway through the second period when Rangers rookie Wil Cuylle hit Sabres rookie Ryan Johnson hard behind the net. The hit was not from behind or egregious but drew the response of his defense partner Erik Johnson.
After the fight, the elder Johnson was given the instigator minor and a 10-minute misconduct, and his quite audible response at getting called for the minor earned him a game misconduct.
“It was absolutely effing ridiculous, and then the ref tells Don (Granato) that he gave me the unsportsmanlike because we were screaming at him in the first period for not making a call,” Johnson told Lance Lysowski of the Buffalo News. “So, tell me how that is somewhat justified? I go over to him, he obliges. That’s hockey. That’s not an instigator. That was bullshit.”
Sabres winger Jeff Skinner was also assessed a misconduct. After the game, Granato did his best not to attack the officials, but also could not provide an explanation as to what Skinner did to be penalized.
The Mighty Quinn
There was an expectation that the return of winger Jack Quinn from an Achilles injury would mean showing some rust and slowly being ramped up after six months of recovery and no training camp.
Both have not been the case so far. The 22-year-old has averaged over 15 minutes per game since returning on December 19 and Quinn has scored two goals in three games.
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