Game 52: Conflict
The Sabres won their third straight game with a 4-3 decision over the New Jersey Devils in which they were bullied and left more questions to be answered.
When last the Buffalo Sabres met the New Jersey Devils, it was the second game of the season in Prague and J-J Peterka made it less than two minutes into the game before he was knocked out of the game by a high hit from defenseman Brenden Dillon that, incredibly, resulted in just a minor penalty.
The hit cost Peterka the next two games as he recovered from a concussion while Dillon went unpunished for the highly questionable hit. Even though that happened at the start of October, there was some wonder if retribution would be doled out for the play. After all, when Connor Clifton injured Devils captain Nico Hischier last season with a high, hard hit, New Jersey made it a point to get after him the following two games against Buffalo to get their own pound of flesh.
It’s not written into stone that such things happen but it’s the unwritten code that generally gets followed and that’s how it goes. That’s why when Jack Quinn took a heavy hit at the blue line from Kurtis MacDermid with Dillon right next to him just more than five minutes into the game that you felt that would be the reminder the Sabres would need that, yes, this will be a rough day and they’d need to be ready.
That’s what made the sights of Jason Zucker scoring to make it 4-1 late in the second period only get checked from behind by Stefan Noesen and into the Devils net (with no penalty called). With the score 4-2 in the third period, Noesen stuck again with a brutal late and high hit on Tage Thompson that put the alternate captain down on the ice and out of the game so difficult to comprehend.
There was no physical pushback, no score-settling fight, no line brawl or even a nasty scrum. There was a Sabres win in which they held on 4-3. The win came after they gave up a shorthanded goal to Jack Hughes while on the major power play when Noesen was assessed a match penalty.
At 4-3, logic in how the NHL is played today dictates that looking for payback might be the fastest way to handing the opposition the opportunity to tie or win the game. The Sabres, who entered the day 13 points out of the second wild card and last in the Eastern Conference, wanted the win.
“Our response is we won,” Zucker said. “He can hit me from behind – we scored a goal. So, I mean, (Noesen) made two plays that cost their team a win, so we’ll take that all day. We can talk about responding, but you’re not going to go do something that’s going to cost our team a win when you don’t know what happened. So, I could’ve dropped my gloves and tried to fight someone, but I’m going to get a two, five and a 10 for instigating. I’m going to get kicked out of the game. If I respond differently after he hits me after my goal, I’m going to take a penalty and that’s going to cost us, possibly. So, a lot of the time, the best response is to not do anything.”
Turning the other cheek is noble and in the world outside the hockey rink. But this was on the ice and reactions were seemingly muted. Noesen’s hit wasn’t seen by any of the Sabres on the ice and although guys on the bench were able to call out who did it, and some wanted to get out there and get their own pound of flesh, it didn’t happen today.
Many fans wanted to see the team’s star player avenged for the hit despite the culprit not being available to pay for his sin. For those fans, it was another glaring example of the Sabres being unable to stand up to a team bullying them.
“Bullshit,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “That’s bullshit. Let’s go. Next question.”
A day to celebrate a win is tinged with the desire to fulfill the bloodlust that runs through the sport but opens up a philosophical debate of sorts. When is the right time to answer back? Is there a correct time to deliver what’s believed to be owed? Is discretion the better part of valor in a sport that’s often controlled by emotions that run hot?
Let’s examine this further.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Noted Hockey to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.