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Big Machine: Sabres 6, Blackhawks 2

Posted on by Dave Melton
Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images

A game worth forgetting before it was even over unfolded in Buffalo on Friday night, where the Blackhawks were handed a pretty thorough ass-kicking in a 6-2 victory by the host Sabres.

A flurry of first-period goals put this one to bed early, starting with this one from Zach Benson at the 9:51 mark of the first:

Alex Tuch added another one about two-and-a-half minutes later:

And then Jack Quinn added a third just 15 seconds after the Tuch goal:

Then, Dylan Cozens made it a 4-0 game with 42 seconds left in the period:

That fourth goal ended Petr Mrazek’s night and Arvid Soderblom entered a game that was into the second period before Chicago had a number of shots on goal that was superior to the four goals Buffalo put on the scoreboard in the opening period. It was that kind of night, folks.

Tyler Bertuzzi ended the Sabres’ shutout bid late in the second:

Then Seth Jones briefly made things interesting with this third-period goal that made it a 4-2 game:

Then this back-breaker of a soft goal that gave Tuch his second and restored Buffalo’s three-goal advantage ended any notions of a comeback:

Tuch wasn’t done, finishing off his hat trick with about five minutes left in the game:

Notes

The SCH staff was all tied up with various family-related holiday events this evening, so none of us were able to catch the game. I caught a quick glimpse of the scoreboard a handful of minutes into the second period and saw the scoreboard reading Buffalo 4 (goals), Blackhawks 3 (shots on goal). Decided there wasn’t much reason to pay attention after that!

So, let’s start off by peaking into the ol’ SCH game thread and see what everyone there had to say about the game, shall we?

First off, let’s see two comments from Okiehawk that were about 30 minutes apart:

On the 3rd day of Christmas my Blackhawks gave to me 3 – 1st period goals…., for the Blackhawks…just have to make that clear.

Can I amend my Christmas wish for at least 3 shots on Buffalo’s goal?

DeadStick nailed the frustrations of the Blackhawks having a game nationally broadcast, which one way to not avoid the never-ending CHSN embarrassment, only for all of that to happen:

I’ve been able to watch so few games this season, I was really hoping for something better than this

gbubbs1 missed an opportunity to salvage something from the misery:

I was going to bet the over and never got to it.

Slapper had enough by the middle of the second period, and who could argue?

I’m out. It will probably take the hawks a week to score 4 goals.

Wardrums knew where to draw the line between desperate and delirious:

I know we’re desperate, but we don’t need 78 going deep

Cjsax provided one positive update from the evening:

Hogs up 4-0 (Rockford ended up winning 5-0)

We’ll end the way we started, with some thoughts from Okiehawk:

They just did not seem to be tough early enough. I don’t think they have to abandon the game plan but just start getting physical when play is not going their way. Passing was awful. Couldn’t keep the zone. It was a combination of everything bad. Unusual bad goaltending.

One quick note about this game that made it a little funkier than the typical one. Not an excuse but certainly part of the story:

For what it's worth, I overheard a few Blackhawks talking about how they were feeling the early morning travel today (usually a team flies in the night before a game, but not coming out of the Christmas break). These aren't people accustomed to 4 a.m. wakeups. We see a lot of blowouts on Dec. 27.

— Mark Lazerus (@marklazerus.bsky.social) December 27, 2024 at 7:42 PM

Let’s get a few comments from the players involved and then get the hell outta here so we never have to talk about this game again.

Taylor Hall: "We all know what's coming here soon. We've got a few nationally televised games, we got the Winter Classic, so we need to get going and figure it out and find a way to play hard and at least be proud of that." Said he didn't want to use the "s-word" but implied the Hawks played soft.

— Mark Lazerus (@marklazerus.bsky.social) December 27, 2024 at 8:47 PM

Seth Jones: "We definitely had energy down 4-2. But that’s not really the point. The point is why we’re down 4-0 after the first. We can’t expect to come back every night and try to rally back in the last 30 minutes of a game and score 3-4 goals."

— Mark Lazerus (@marklazerus.bsky.social) December 27, 2024 at 8:56 PM

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Alex Tuch (BUF) — 3 goals
  2. Jack Quinn (BUF) — 1 goal, 1 assist
  3. Dylan Cozens (BUF) — 1 goal, 1 assist

What’s Next

The Blackhawks return home to host the Dallas Stars on Sunday night at 7:30 p.m.

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