2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series – Atlanta Thrashers win 4-3 against the Buffalo Sabres
The final game of Friday saw the Buffalo Sabres play the Atlanta Thrashers. The game took place at the Philips Arena home of the Atlanta Thrashers. This was the 11th game of the Buffalo Sabres and the 10th game of the Atlanta Thrashers
thus far. There were around 10,000 fans that came to back their teams towards a victory. The match was a very tough battle with each team displaying excellent skills. In the end, the Atlanta Thrashers got their noses ahead in overtime to win the game 4-3.
1st Period
The home team started off the period firing a few shots at the opposing goal. Though there were no goals but they pressed on hoping to create panic in the defence.
The Buffalo Sabres showed their class and great temperament and dealt with this easily. In fact, they managed to score in the 5th minute to take the lead. The goal was scored by Tim Connonlly from a powerful strike from 12 feet. The home team
was able to respond to this with attacks too but they weren’t as affective and productive like those of the opposition.
The home fans urged the Atlanta Thrashers to score but to their disappointment, it was the Buffalo Sabres who scored once again to double their lead. The goal was scored in the 14th minute through a flick shot from 33 feet that went into the goal
as it was perfectly placed by Jordan Leopold.
The period ended with the Buffalo Sabres leading 2-0. The Sabres scored twice out of the 14 goal attempts they made while the Atlanta Thrashers didn’t score any goals out of the 6 goal attempts they made.
2nd Period
The 2nd period was almost the same as the previous period. The only difference being the fact that it was the Atlanta Thrashers who scored the two goals during the period.
The early few minutes were dominated by the Buffalo Sabres but after the 5th minute, the game revolved around the home team.
The first of the 2 goals came in the 10th minute. The goal was scored by Nik Antropov who scored after hitting a venomous strike from 17 feet. The score at the time was 2-1 in favour of the Buffalo Sabres and the Atlanta Thrashers was determined
to level the scored.
The home team’s determination worked as they scored once again in the 14th minute to level the score. The goal was scored by Alexander Burmistrov from close range through a simple tip in. The period didn’t see any more goals as both teams went
into the break.
The score at the end of the 20 minutes was 2-2. The period saw the Atlanta Thrashers scored 2 goals out of the 9 goal attempts, whereas the Buffalo Sabres was restricted to just 4 goal attempts.
3rd Period
The Atlanta Thrashers sent the home crowd wild as they scored from the very first play of the period to take the lead for the first time in the match.
The goal was scored by Nilclas Bergfors from a spectacular shot from 14 feet. Taking the lead, the home team came up with a good defence. They were on road for a victory when a late last minute equalizer by the Buffalo Sabres silenced the crowd.
The goal was scored with just 8 seconds left to play by Derek Roy, who hit a splendid 22 feet flick shot. During the period, both teams scored 1 goal making 9 goal attempts each.
The score was 3-3 at the end of the normal time therefore the game went into overtime. During the overtime, the Buffalo Sabres made 1 goal attempt and the Atlanta Thrashers made 2 goal attempts. The goal that won the match was scored in favour of the Atlanta
Thrashers.
The home crowd went wild once again as the Atlanta Thrashers won the match 4-3 through Dustin Byfuglien’s goal from 22 feet in the 5th minute of overtime.
At the end of the game, Atlanta Thrashers goalie Chris Mason who made 25 saves said,
"We dig ourselves holes, but, like I said from the beginning, once we start to clean up a little bit in our own zone at the start of hockey games, we're going to be a lot better off," Mason said. "But there's no quit in here, that's for sure."
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