Two goals in 36 seconds helped the Buffalo Jr. Sabres to a 5-1 victory over the St. Michael’s Buzzers on Wednesday night.
Just a few days after the teams last met, they reconvened at the First Niagara Rink at HARBORCENTER for Wednesday’s tilt.
Both teams started off the night with plenty of physical play, throwing the body around and taking penalties as a result.
Buffalo was unable to take advantage of a pair of power play opportunities early in the first, then went down a man as Evan Bennett took a roughing penalty with under three minutes to play in the opening frame.
With Bennett in the box, the Buffalo Jr. Sabres kicked off a strong shorthanded chance, with Dylan Seitz eventually sniping one to put Buffalo up 1-0.
Less than a minute later, however, with Bennett still in the box, the Buzzers potted one of their own at the hands of A.J. D’Orazio.
In a matter off just 56 seconds, the game went from being scoreless to being tied at one – and that was a wrap on twenty minutes.
The second period saw the Jr. Sabres score twice in a span of just 36 seconds, with Evan Bennett and Bryce Ferrell each scoring to quickly give Buffalo a 3-1 lead.
Tempers once again flared with a handful of penalties handed out either way, but teams were ultimately able to kill off the minor calls.
Brenden Dunning added his 15th goal of the season in the third period to put the Jr. Sabres up by a three-goal margin, 4-1.
With just about three minutes to play, the Jr. Sabres once again found themselves shorthanded as Bryce Ferrell was called for goalie interference.
The Buzzers elected to pull the goaltender to give them the 6-on-4 advantage, but Buffalo’s Chris Berger ended up potting the shorthanded empty-netter to put the Jr. Sabres up 5-1.
Tim Nicksic, Christopher Berger, Aaron Reinig (2), Mitchell Spring and Zach Evancho (2) all registered assists in the win.
The Buffalo Jr. Sabres ultimately outshot the Buzzers by a margin of 45-24.
Tucker Weppner had 23 saves in the win.
The Buffalo Jr. Sabres now face off a week off, returning to action on Wednesday, February 3 as they host the Milton IceHawks at HARBORCENTER (7:35 pm).