Buffalo Sabres beat Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 for fifth straight win
Drew Stafford scored a goal in overtime, as the Buffalo Sabres rallied to their fifth straight victory, 2-1 over the struggling Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday night.
Ryan Miller stopped 33 shots for Buffalo, who have won four of their last five games. Jordan Leopold also lit the lamp for the Sabres. Stafford described his winning goal by saying, “I was just trying to get a screen shot through. I was trying to shoot it
through a hole, get it on net and it happened to sneak in.”
Scottie Upshall scored the lone goal for Phoenix, who had a two-game win streak snapped. Jason LaBarbera saved 30 shots in the loss. Phoenix Head Coach Dave Tippett expressed his disappointment after the game, "I have to say that I feel like we left a point
at the table. For 50 minutes there we played a very good hockey game. But you want to get the two points when they're there."
The Sabres opened the scoring on a power-play after 26 and a half goalless minutes. The goal developed from a face-off win where the puck went to Leopold at left point. He then fired a rising shot, which soared just over LaBarbera's shoulder and into the
net to give Buffalo a 1-0 lead.
“We’ve been talking about it,” Leopold said. “We know we have to collect some points and really get on a roll.”
Upshall equalised the game at 1-1 in the 13th minute of the second period. Adrian Aucoin ripped a slap-shot from the right point toward the net, but Miller deflected it. Upshall then collected the long rebound and blasted a wrist shot into the
open net.
“I thought in the second period we started to turn it up and caught another gear,” Upshall said.
Phoenix got two power plays in the last seven minutes of the final period. The last power-play started with two and a half minutes left, but the Coyotes could not take advantage. The Coyotes have not scored a power-play goal in five games.
“We had a couple of plays we could have executed better, but that’s kind of the way the game was,” Tippett said. “There were shots bouncing around and I thought Miller played very well for them.”
Phoenix played aggressively, but was blanked on four power-play opportunities, and the two misses in the third gave Buffalo a boost. The Coyotes’ failure to convert their two power-plays sent the game into overtime.
The Sabres took a one-goal advantage with almost over a minute left in overtime. Stafford rushed down the right side boards and banged a slap-shot from the right circle, which sailed just inside the goal post to seal the win for Buffalo.
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