1…2…3…4…5…We want 6!

Oops, not tonight.The Sabres lost to the St. Louis Blues tonight as the Bluenotes stormed back from a 2-0 second period to win 4-3 with the game winner coming in the final minute of regulation as Brad Boyes smacked puck into the net to finish off what had been a wild scramble in front of the net.

The opening period featured just one goal as Jason Pominville took a pass from Clarke McArthur to slide one past Manny Legace.

From the intermission on this game was all about the Blues. St. Louis outshot Buffalo in the second by a 12-4 advantage and dominated play, yet still the Sabres led 2-1 at the second intermission thanks to a power play goal from Ales Kotalik. Later in the period Martin Rucinsky would finally get the Bluenote on the board with his third of the season.

Wonder if he still thinks the Sabres are an average team with a great goaltender…..

In the third the Blues began to show their dominance on the scoreboard with two goals in the first seven minutes of play with Paul Kariya scoring on a two on one break as Miller didn’t have much of a chance to stop that one. The next one was a softie without question as Mike Johnson slid one underneath the pads to put the Blues ahead for the first time all game, and by the way they were playing this lead appeared to be pretty solid.

An unheralded player came to the rescue for Buffalo with about nine minutes left as Andrej Sekera let rip from just inside the blue line for his first career NHL goal. His goal seemed to awaken the dormant crowd and team on the ice as well, but in the end the stage would be set for Boyes’ heroics in the final minute.In the locker room afterwards players were a bit frustrated to let this one get away but were realistic about it. Jason Pominville stated that “We didn’t deserve to win. (The Blues) were the better team and with the game on the line they were the better team. And that’s not the team we’ve been the past few games and that’s not the message we want to send….it’s not the way we want to play.”

Lindy was straightforward in the postgame conference calling out the carelessness of his team, forwards in particular in handling the puck, adding that “As a group I didn’t like the play of the forwards…didn’t like the battles on the walls….didn’t like the fact that they weren’t in shot lanes….it hurts….and I could see it early…..and you can’t play like that.” And on that note he left the podium.

Sabres now stand at 11-11-1 with Carolina coming up on Saturday night followed by a trip out to California….and guess who will be out there with them for the Southern California portion of it? You got it, so stick around for the next few days for daily updates from West Coast starting on Friday…..

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