As it turned out, all the Buffalo Jr. Sabres needed was a time span of 1:23 to beat the Pickering Panthers in Ontario Junior Hockey League action on Sunday night.
Buffalo had a solid start in the first period, but were unable to capitalize on their first power-play opportunity and found themselves in the penalty box a couple of times.
Just over the halfway point of the second period, the Jr. Sabres found their stride – and quickly.
Pickering’s Degray was handed a slashing call, just a few seconds before his teammate Wheeler got called for cross-checking. With a two-man advantage, Buffalo capitalized not once, but twice.
First, it was Adam Tretowicz scoring his 18th of the season to put the Jr. Sabres up 1-0. Brenden Dunning and Erik Urbank notched assists.
Just 22 seconds later, Cameron Radziwon added his 15th of the season to make it a 2-0 game. Dunning potted his second assist of the night, while Tretowicz scored his second point of the night with a helper.
With both Pickering penalties over thanks to those goals, the teams found themselves back on 5-on-5. The Jr. Sabres kept coming, with Matt Barbolini scoring his first Ontario Junior Hockey League goal to make it 3-0. Radziwon and Matt Jakubowski potted the assists.
The Jr. Sabres were afforded two more man advantages, but finished off the second period with a 3-0 lead.
The third period gave Pickering a chance to rally back. With Radziwon in the box, the Panthers pulled their goaltender and scored on the 6-on-4. A short time later, they did it again, this time with Davis in the box for Buffalo.
Despite the late rally, the Panthers were unable to complete the comeback, and Buffalo skated off with a 3-2 victory.
The Jr. Sabres return to action on February 5 at the North York Rangers.
