Pominville Puts Sabres on the Verge

For the most part, the Buffalo Sabres are in the best position of any of the seven teams outside of the top 8 in the Eastern Conference.

Literally, they’re sitting in 9th place, a mere 1 point behind the Carolina Hurricanes for 8th and 2 points back of the New York Rangers for 7th.

What is more impressive is the fact that the Sabres are tied for the fewest games played in the East. They control their own destiny with two big games in hand on Carolina and three on the struggling Rangers.

Today, the Sabres rallied from being two goals down at the end of the first period to escape Philadelphia with a 5-3 victory over the top seeded Flyers.

First period goals from Kris Versteeg, who has benefited immensely thanks to a change of scenery after being acquired from Toronto, and James van Riemsdyk, the Flyers looked poised to cruise to the 2 points which would give them a 5 point cushion on the Boston Bruins for the top spot in the East.

But the Sabres would not leave the City of Brotherly Love without putting up a fight.

Thomas Vanek moved deep into the Flyers zone and fed Drew Stafford in front of the Philadelphia net. Stafford had snuck behind the defenders, took the pass on his forehand and lifted a shot above Sergei Bobrovsky’s left pad to cut the deficit in half.

Buffalo would strike again under two minutes later on one of the strangest looking goals of the season.

Tyler Ennis carried the puck to the blue line, looking as if he would fire a shot on goal and force a whistle. Instead, he lifted the puck and sent it into the corner where he would chase it down. He carried the puck towards the back of the net and then centered a pass looking for Patrick Kaleta who was battling Sean O’Donnell for positioning. O’Donnell pushed Kaleta into Bobrovsky and the Flyers goal as the pass then deflected off of O’Donnell and into the goal, right behind Kaleta. Ennis would get credit for his 8th of the year as the Sabres pulled even.

Andrej Sekera would add a rare goal to give Buffalo their first lead of the game just past the midway point of the 2nd period. Although a Thomas Vanek turnover lead to a shorthanded goal by Kimmo Timonen, the Sabres still maintained the momentum exiting the 2nd.

6 minutes into the 3rd period, Jason Pominville broke between the Flyers back check as Thomas Vanek fed him a pass from the left wing boards, which Pominville tipped into the back of the net for the 2nd Buffalo lead of the game.

Nathan Gerbe would add an empty net goal to seal the victory with just over a minute to go in regulation.

Buffalo has a quick turnaround as they head to Minnesota for a Sunday match up against the Wild.