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| Marty Havlat #9 of the San Jose Sharks and Jhonas Enroth #1 of the Buffalo Sabres on February 28, 2014 at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images) |
Jhonas Enroth stopped 36 shots in an unexpected start to give the Buffalo Sabres a 4-2 victory against the San Jose Sharks at First Niagara Center on Friday.
Before the puck was dropped, the Sabres traded goalie Ryan Miller and captain Steve Ott to the St. Louis Blues for goalie Jaroslav Halak, forward Chris Stewart, forward prospect William Carrier, a first-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, and a conditional pick.
Miller spent 12 years in the Sabres organization after he was a fifth-round pick by the team in 1999. He was 15-22-3 with a 2.72 goals-against average and .923 save percentage this season.
Enroth was scheduled to back up Miller but got the call to start when the trade was made.
Cody Hodgson gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 10:59 of the first period. He held the puck in the faceoff circle to the right of Antti Niemi and fired a high snap shot that surprised the Sharks' goalie. The goal was Hodgson's 15th of the season.
It was Niemi's first start since returning from the Olympics, where he did not play for Finland. He finished with 16 saves.
"I thought I felt good the whole week, along with everything, I felt good," Niemi said. "I'm not sure why I got beat blocker side tonight."
The Sharks tied the game in the second period when James Sheppard scored his second goal of the season. He was parked in front of Enroth and took advantage of a Marc-Edouard Vlasic shot that bounced off the end boards in front, where he slipped it between Enroth's legs.
Brian Flynn's sixth goal of the season gave the Sabres a 2-1 lead 4:33 into the third period. Center Zemgus Girgensons won a faceoff straight back to Flynn, who snapped a wrist shot to the far stick side of Niemi. It's the second consecutive game Flynn has scored.
Moulson's 17th goal of the season and 11th for the Sabres made it 3-1 at 7:39. The play started when Myers deked Sharks forward Adam Burish and drew the attention of the defense before finding Moulson alone in front of the net.
"It was a great play by [Myers], I think everybody thought he was going to shoot it," Moulson said. "He ended up making an unbelievable play and put it right on my tape and luckily it found a way in."
It was Myers' second assist of the game.
"I was holding the puck to the outside and I got him leaning just enough to pull it in and take a step by him," he said. "I thought [Moulson] did a great job of finding that quiet ice and fortunately we connected."
San Jose's Patrick Marleau made it 3-2 with 1:15 left when he beat Enroth on a netmouth scrum. Myers scored an empty-net goal with 20.7 seconds remaining.
The Sabres swept the two-game season series against the Sharks, the fourth-place team in the Western Conference. San Jose is 1-14-1 all-time in Buffalo.
"They just have our number for whatever reason," Sharks captain Joe Thornton said. "They play well against the Sharks, what can I say?"
Font: NHL
