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Title - Ryan Womeldorf
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Good, Bad and Ugly: Sabres vs Winnipeg Jets
By Ryan Womeldorf
hometownhockey.ca

Good, Bad and Ugly: Sabres vs Winnipeg Jets
The Jets pushed the Sabres around all night, lighting them up in the second and third periods.
PHOTO CREDIT - mercedsunstar

Winnipeg - December 17, 2014 - Following every Sabres game, we’ll be taking a little look at the previous night’s action with a little segment called “good, bad and ugly”. Expect a loooooooot of ugly.

When they fall, they fall hard. Let’s get into Tuesday night’s 5-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.

The Good

Remember how I started to be “that guy” complaining about the winning streak after the Sabres won on Monday? Yeah, they must’ve heard me because, aside from the first period, that was UGLY. The Jets scored in all situations – power play, even-strength, shorthanded – and it wasn’t even really close once we hit the midway point of the second period.

The only real good, I guess, is that not only did Nikita Zadorov score his second in like a week, it was a power play tally! They can actually score on the power play! Honestly, it’s been so bad over the course of the season, that I half-jokingly wish they’d just forfeit their power play opportunities. Still something to consider.

The Bad

Welcome back, Michal Neuvirth! He saw 36 shots on the night, but was clearly rusty after missing time due to injury. Then again, he had big pads to fill by following Jhonas Enroth’s efforts of the last dozen or so games where he was literally Swedish Superman.

Not that I think this is what’s going to push Ted Nolan into starting Enroth for the bulk of the season, but it certainly has to make him think. Expect Neuvirth to get a few more starts in the near future to see where he’s at; if he performs poorly, he could become another trade block item and the starting gig could become Enroth’s for good.

The Ugly

When the Sabres lose this season, they do it in style. No close losses for them, no sir! The second and third periods were an absolute mess. Not only were they outscored 5-0, they were outshot 28-16 and never really got anything resembling pressure on Ondrej Pavelec.

Though it was harder to see when the Sabres were consistently winning for a little while, this is a team that is woefully under talented compared to the rest of the league. They were playing way above their head for some inexplicable reason, but last night shows just how quickly things can fall apart for them when the bounces don’t go their way. If they didn’t have a few opportunistic forwards over the last 15 or so games, where would the Sabres’ record be? Would it even be .500 over that stretch? Likely not.

Things are going to be bad this season unless the puck luck stays with the Sabres. Don’t expect that to last.

Follow me on Twitter: @TwoPadStackRW

Follow Me on TwitterWhen not inanely bantering about the Sabres, Ryan Womeldorf can be found here and at TwoPadStack.net talking all things hockey. He's usually got a lot to say, but sadly most of it is wrong. If you have any questions, feel free to contact him at rwomeldorf@hometownhockey.ca


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