Hendricks faked a wrist shot in the slot to freeze Lalime, and then buried a backhand in the open cage.

“Well, it’s a lot of fun,” said Lalime of the shootout finish. “It would have been a lot more fun if we would have won.”

The Sabres’ backup made 27 saves in the loss, and remains one win shy of his 200th career NHL victory.

“He played really well,” said Sabres forward Clarke MacArthur. “It’s too bad we couldn’t get him one in the shootout. He made a lot of great saves and he battled hard tonight.”

Tim Connolly, Thomas Vanek, and Jochen Hecht scored for Buffalo in the shootout, but goaltender Craig Anderson stymied the rest of the Sabres’ shooters—including MacArthur—ending Buffalo’s win streak at six games.

After a poor start in the game’s first 40, Buffalo roared back with two goals in the third to tie the contest at three apiece. Vanek banked in his own rebound following a nifty pass from line mate Drew Stafford halfway through the third to narrow the deficit to one goal. Hecht then evened the score when his screened wrist shot from the point found the mesh.

“Obviously, we came out better in the second and third and we worked hard,” MacArthur said. “It’s just disappointing to have that slow start. We were all over them in the third. Anderson played really well to keep him in at the end.”

Colorado was able to get on the board first when Buffalo defenseman Henrik Tallinder coughed up the puck inside his own end. Consequently, Matt Duchene received a one-timed pass from Hendricks to beat a sprawling Lalime.

Less than six minutes later it was Duchene again who buried a loose puck in a mad scramble around the Buffalo goal. Duchene, NHL’s rookie of the month for December, now has seven goals and 15 points since Dec. 2.

“Our execution early in the game wasn’t very good again,” said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. “We had some guys missing passes, we had passes that any team, any player at this level should be able to make and should be able to catch. And when you miss those passes early you just give up possession. And I don’t think our possession was very good.”

The Sabres finally got on the board late in the second frame when center Paul Gaustad found Stafford in the slot for a one-timer past Anderson on the power play. Colorado, however, would answer back just 62 seconds later when Brandon Yip ripped a quick wrist shot past the stick side of Lalime to regain the two-goal lead.

In the third period, Ruff switched to two five-man units, and eventually it paid off.

“I think sometimes the five-man units, which has been used in the past—I think Detroit was the most famous team for using them—if you can breed a little familiarity, you can do a lot of cheating, you can do a lot rotating,” Ruff said.

In the late goings, Ruff paired Tallinder and Tyler Myers with the Connolly, Hecht, and Jason Pominville line, which was responsible for the game-tying goal. Hecht’s shot from the point was ironically screened by Tallinder in front to beat Anderson high glove side.

“I thought in the third period we generated some pretty good momentum,” Ruff said. “Once we scored the goal we got them on their heels and looked like we had a shot at coming back.”

The Sabres will get a rest Sunday, he said, before three-straight days of practice prior to the team’s annual West Coast road trip.

Buffalo will travel to Atlanta to play the Thrashers on Thursday and to Long Island to play the Islanders on Saturday before five-straight against Phoenix, Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, and Vancouver.

"I think it’s good to get some rest and practice," Lalime said. "I think even at this time of the year you want to make sure you’re sharp—big road trip coming up. We’re going to recharge the battery and make sure we’re ready for the big road trip.”

This article is featured in The Record Student Press at Buffalo State College.

Read more NHL news on BleacherReport.com

The feeling throughout the Sabres’ dressing room was mutually discontent after dropping a hard fought contest, which forward Jason Pominville said was theirs to be had.

“I think our power play has to find a way to make a difference,” said Pominville of his team’s 26th ranked power play. “I’m sure they’re saying the same thing on their side, they didn’t score. But I definitely think that we could have won a game if we get one on the power play.”

Both teams’ unit with the man advantage was equally ineffective. Pittsburgh’s power play— which now ranks second to last in the league— went 0-for-5, with three unsuccessful tries in the third period. The Sabres, however, went 0-for-8, squandering four of those opportunities in the third period, as well as one more in the overtime frame.

“We definitely have to play better, especially when we got the goaltending that we did,” Pominville said. “Patty [Lalime] played great and made some big saves, but the power play could have made a difference.”

The game remained tied at one through four periods, before Penguins defenseman Kris Letang would score the lone goal in the shootout— a backhand over the right shoulder of Lalime.

“We played a good game. We were solid defensively,” said Lalime, who made 23 saves in defeat. “I think our penalty killing was very good. We played a good overall game. We had our chances but just couldn’t get the winning goal…I thought it was kind of a playoff game— a hard fought battle out there.”

Pominville opened the game’s scoring after tapping home a rebound off a Clarke MacArthur slap shot 15:05 into the first period. The Sabres looked more determined in the first period against Pittsburgh, opposed to the effort put forth in the opening period against Toronto on Friday, coach Lindy Ruff said.

Buffalo’s defense was able to control the high-powered Penguins’ offense for the majority of the game, nonetheless a minor slip up late in the first led to a Chris Kunitz goal to tie the game at one.

Pittsburgh was able to carry that momentum into the second period with a flurry of scoring chances, but could not solve Lalime.

“I felt good,” Lalime said. “Those guys were moving the puck a lot…It makes my job so much easier when our guys are boxing out and try to take the second chances away.”

During the second period, Penguins’ captain Sidney Crosby fired a cross-ice pass to fellow superstar Evgeni Malkin while on the man advantage, but the perennial all-star was unable to hit the open target.

“They had one power play that their shooters were a little bit off,” Ruff said. “Malkin missed a wide open net. I though the penalty killing was pretty aggressive on both sides besides that one power play where a couple of their special players had a couple of good opportunities.”

Either team was able to correct its futility on the power play in the third as well. Buffalo would come close in the final frame when forward Tim Connolly rang a low slap shot of the left goal post.

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, however, stymied the Sabres’ offense, stopping 31 Buffalo shots, as well as all three in the shootout.

The Sabres’ power play has converted just once in its last 26 tries. And with the absence of Thomas Vanek on Saturday due to a abdominal injury, the unit has been unable to gel, Ruff said.

“We haven’t really practiced in a week, we really can’t” he said. “We’ll rest up and be ready to play again. We’ll have to do our best job through video to try and find a few seems to try and give them one more play.”

On a positive note, Ruff said he was pleased with his backup goaltender’s performance in his second straight start. Lalime made 39 saves in a 2-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Dec. 11.

“I think it’s confidence,” Ruff said. “I think he feels good about the way he plays; when he went [down to Portland]. I think he feels good about the way he played his last game. That feeds into a lot of things.”

The Sabres will next travel north on Monday to take on division foe, Toronto Maple Leafs, in a 7 PM faceoff at the Air Canada Center.

This article is featured in The Record Student Press at Buffalo State College

Read more NHL news on BleacherReport.com