Coming off a season-opening victory over the 11th ranked team in Canada, the Buffalo Junior Sabres hosted another highly ranked powerhouse, division rivals and 9th ranked Oakville Blades. The first period showed promise of a competitive game, with Buffalo’s Andrew Poturalski scoring just 1:45 into the contest to give the Junior Sabres the early lead.
Oakville tied the game just 33 seconds later on Brad Kobryn’s goal. About a minute and a half later, the Blades took their first lead of the game when Connor McGlynn scored to make it 2 to 1 in favor of the guests. Poturalski responded for Buffalo with his second goal of the period, on a power play, at the 10:06 mark.
The Blades took control of the game in the second period, building a 5-2 lead on goals by Martin Kudla, Kyle Blaney and Tyler Karius. The Junior Sabres switched goalies, replacing starter Parker Gahagen with Josh Hathaway, midway through the second period.
Hathaway allowed just one goal, by Chris Taylor at the 8:46 mark of the third period, before trhe Junior Sabres’ Shane Bennett cut the lead to 6-3 with his goal with less than four minutes remaining.
James Prigione recorded 19 saves to earn the win for Oakville, which was playing its season opener at the Northtown Center. The Junior Sabres, who fall to 1-1 for the season, next play on Sunday, September 17, when they host the Burlington Cougars.
