With all the success that the young, unproven Buffalo Sabres have been having in recent weeks, there was bound to be a letdown at some point. That point came about 1:48 into tonight's game when the San Jose Sharks opened the scoring, and the Sabres simply couldn't muster anything in response for the next 30 minutes.
The Sharks pounced on an early mistake, when Jake McCabe slipped on open ice, then slashed Tommy Wingels to break up the San Jose scoring chance. The Sharks would score on the ensuing power play thanks to Marc-Eduoard Vlasic, opening up a 1-0 lead less than two minutes in to the game.