The Buffalo Sabres 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins was like many of their recent defeats, as the club was in the game but undone by a single misstep or misfortune. Tied 1-1 late in the third, the Sabres had just about killed off a minor penalty to Sam Lafferty when David Pastrnak set up Morgan Geekie for the game-winner just as power play was expiring with 1:45 remaining.
Replay revealed that Bruins forward Justin Brazeau had made contact with Sabres goalie James Reimer prior to the goal, but there was no basis for a video review since the contact was caused by teammate Mattias Samuelsson knocking the winger down.
The Sabres winless skid has reached an unbelievable 13 games (stretching back to a 1-0 loss to Minnesota on the Wednesday prior to US Thanksgiving) and has all but ended any realistic hope of Buffalo stopping the longest playoff drought in the NHL at 13 seasons.
The focus now will switch to what the organization will do with over half a season remaining, including the status of Kevyn Adams and whether owner Terry Pegula will allow the GM who assembled the current club to make trades to reset or retool the current roster.
There was some speculation that Buffalo may have considered a deal prior to the December 20th Christmas trade freeze. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on the 32 Thoughts podcast that Sabres Assistant GM Jason Karmanos was spotted in Detroit at the Red Wings – Philadelphia Flyers game, but the deadline passed without a move being made.
Friedman indicated that he believed that Karmanos may have been focusing on the Wings, but there has been trade chatter involving the Sabres and Flyers going back to the offseason, so it does not rule out a possible move involving Buffalo and Philadelphia after the freeze is lifted on Saturday.
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