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Chris Drury scored two more goals as the Sabres outplayed the scrappy Islanders, taking a 3-1 series lead with the win. The Sabres were the better team overall, but they never could put it away by scoring a few “buffer goals”. The lead was only one goal until Jason Pominville scored on an oustanding individual effort with 1:12 remaining.
There’s been a lot of whining by the Islanders, which I (as a Sabres’ fan) find interesting… from my perspective, many of the calls/breaks/whatever have gone their way as well. Problem is, they need them ALL to go their way in order for them to have a chance in the series. I like Ted Nolan, but I have not liked the way he has handled himself in the post-game press conferences so far. He definitely feels like his team is being treated unfairly, that’s pretty obvious.
But, no matter. His woes will soon be over as Buffalo should finish up the series at home Friday night. Game time is 7pm. With a win, the Sabres advance to round two, and most likely will take on another New York team, as the Rangers swept past the Thrashers with a win last night. If Tampa Bay can upset #2 seed New Jersey, then the Sabres would play them in round two… but that’s not that likely as NJ tied up their series last night with an overtime win.
I am of course getting ahead of myself. The Sabres still need to win one more game, but with three chances to do that… it’s pretty likely.
Go Sabres!
(read the game recap from nhl.com)