Top Notes
- The Sabres have lost consecutive home games in regulation for the first time since Feb. 11 and Feb. 14, 2012.
- Cody Hodgson now has points in three straight games (2+1) and 12 points (4+8) in his last 11.
- With a TOI of 21:09, Tyler Ennis went over the 20-minute mark for the fifth time this season. It was the fifth-most minutes he’s skated in his career and the most in a game decided in regulation time, topping his previous high of 21:04 set on Sunday vs. PIT.
Top Quotes
Sabres forward Jason Pominville:
On the Sabres‘ play as the game progressed: “Actually, I thought we played better in the third [period]. We obviously didn’t get the start we wanted again. It’s a part of the game that has to improve. We have to get better in that area; we’ve got to get better starts. [I’m] disappointed in the way we came out, but I thought as the game went on we did some better things, managed to get within one. [We] had a few looks in the third, but we’re not going to win games when we started they way we did tonight. Even though we played hard for 20 [minutes], we got to play hard for 60.”
On giving up the puck: “I think we’ve got to be better in our zone. It’s definitely an area we talked about; we know we have to do better. They scored on some good opportunities they got that we gave them. They also had a lot more chances that did go in. I think, overall, it has to be better in our zone. We’re not playing good enough without the puck and it starts there.”
On losing at home: “It’s obviously disappointing and frustrating; we have got to be better and we got to dig ourselves out of this. We’re not in an easy situation, we know that. It’s going to take a lot of work, starts with compete and battles, but we have to start somewhere.”
Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec:
On tonight’s game: “Yeah, it felt pretty good. I mean, every win feels pretty good and, you know, we lost a couple games at home, so it was the time to win some games on the road. I think we played really well tonight, especially in the second period we had a good, good period. And we scored first, it was huge in the first minute of the game. It was big for us and, obviously, the penalty kill was great tonight, so it was nice to see in the end that we killed the penalty and we won the game.”
On playing his 200th NHL game: “No, I don’t think it’s a number to celebrate. I am happy for every game and every game I play I try to play as hard as I can and help the team to win. It’s just a number and, like I said, I am happy for every win.”
On good start to the road trip: “Yeah, absolutely. It’s going to be a huge road trip for us and we’re going to play against really tough teams. This is a tough building to play, and Buffalo is a really good team, especially Vanek. He’s been unbelievable this season, so it was nice to see the guys play well against him.”
Jets forward Andrew Ladd:
On the penalty kill’s success: “Yeah, it’s huge. You know, I think our penalty kill has been actually really good for the last five or six games. We just had a couple game stretch where they scored a lot, so we’ve kind of turned that around lately and it’s been a big thing and its going to be a big thing going forward.”
On goaltending and defense: “Yeah, [Ondrej Pavelec] played great tonight. He made a couple huge saves, kept us in it, and kept us in the lead which is something you need in tight games. Our D had a great game, they all had great gaps. They weren’t giving their forwards time and space and in turn we were creating turnovers and going back the other way.”
On offensive production: “Yeah, I think when you’re not getting chances I think maybe it’s a concern. You look at tonight, I thought we generated a lot of chances. Miller made a lot of great saves at key times, so I mean if you’re creating those chances, they’re going come.”
