The Buffalo Sabres blew a 3-1 first period lead and fell 4-3 to the Edmonton Oilers Monday night in front of a frustrated KeyBank Center.
Adding to the home crowd’s growing frustrations with the Sabres was Jason Pominville’s failed attempt to tie the game with under four minutes to go in the third period.
Pominville snuck behind the Oilers’ defense and positioned himself just to the side of Mikko Koskinen’s crease in prime scoring position. Brandon Montour’s pass found the veteran forward perfectly, but the finish didn’t go so well. His first attempt went off the heel of the blade but was moving toward the empty net for the equalizer, and that’s when Pominville’s follow through actually prevented the puck from crossing the goal line.
Brutal. Just brutal, and totally sums up the Sabres’ second half of the season. With the loss, Buffalo is now 2-7-1 in their last 10 games and 13-22-6 since that November 10-game win streak that seems forever ago at this point.
“I can probably take 100 shots from that area and it might never happen, but it happened tonight,” Pominville said afterward. “It was clearly going in and just kind of double touched it on my way back. It was just a tough feeling when you see it going in and then all of a sudden coming out.”
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.