Buffalo Sabres Shut Out Again

Despite putting 34 shots on goal, the Buffalo Sabres were shut out for the second straight game.  The Tampa Bay Lightning got a couple of good bounces to go their way and came away with a 2-0 win Tuesday night at KeyBank Center.

The Sabres actually played a pretty good defensive game against the high-flying and high-scoring Lightning.  The Sabres just couldn't get any luck around the net.  But you make your own breaks in the NHL and the Sabres didn't do themselves any favors.  They just can't or won't work for what are known as garbage goals.  Those are the ones that deflect off sticks or skates or pads.  That's because the Sabres just don't have enough players willing to go to the front of the net to make it hard on the goaltender.

Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy saw every one of the 34 shots that came his way and had an easy night.  On the other end, Robin Lehner played well, but both goals he gave up were deflected off of Sabre sticks.

And so it goes for the Buffalo Sabres.  They've played 25 games so far this season and lost 19 of them.  Not very promising for a team that hasn't made the playoffs in six years, now going on seven.  And by the way the last time the Sabres won a playoff series was when Danny Briere and Chris Drury were still playing for them, 11 years ago.

It doesn't get any easier.  The Sabres play the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in back to back games this weekend; Friday night in Buffalo and Saturday night in PIttsburgh.