The Winnipeg Jets were just starting their last long homestand of the 2024-25 season when the Buffalo Sabres came to town for a Sunday matinee. The two franchises sit at opposite ends of the NHL standings, but everyone knows you have to play the game to determine the actual winner. So here is how I saw things when the puck dropped at 2 pm…
GAME RECAP
Once the game began at the Canada Life Centre, the Winnipeg Jets dominated puck possession as the Buffalo Sabres couldn’t get a shot on net for the opening 5 minutes. Despite the home team controlling the shot count, it was the visitors who broke the goose egg when they were able to pull off a set play on an offensive zone face-off and JJ Peterka lasered a puck from the top of the right face-off circle. BUF 1-0. The Jets tried to quickly respond when Cole Perfetti set up defenseman Colin Miller for a chance from the slot, but Buffalo’s James Reimer was there to make the stop. Winnipeg had to kill off the game’s first penalty and did a solid job with the task before they went back to determining the flow of play. Some big bodychecks by both franchises in the later parts of the frame upped the emotions. The Jets’ Brandon Tanev got involved with a great shift, including a solid hit on the forecheck and then an end-to-end rush up the left wing that saw the winger almost tie up the match. When the horn sounded, Winnipeg was up 11-3 in the shot department yet trailed on the scoreboard.
The middle period saw the Jets get an early powerplay opportunity and while the top PP unit had a couple looks, they couldn’t get the job done. Fortunately the 2nd unit was more successful when Perfetti passed to Nino Niederreiter at the side of the net, allowing the Swiss forward the chance to try to bring the puck out front of the Sabres’ net. While El Nino did lose control of the puck in the attempt, it slid across the crease and bounced in off a defender’s skate. TIE 1-1. Winnipeg had all kinds of chances to take the lead as the period progressed, including great looks from Adam Lowry (x2) & Mark Scheifele. The Jets had out-shot the Sabres 12-6 in the 2nd period, yet a rare Buffalo rush saw the forward curl up in the offensive zone before finding an uncovered Rasmus Dahlin at the point for a 1 timer. BUF 2-1.
The 3rd period started off very quiet and just when Winnipeg started to put on the pressure, Scheifele was nabbed for a penalty to send Buffalo to the powerplay. The Jets did a great job early on the PK, but just as the teams were about to get back to even strength a point shot produced a rebound for Manitoba-born Tyson Kozak to knock home. BUF 3-1. With the hopes of the hometown crowd dwindling, Winnipeg responded quickly to restore some optimism when Scheifele set up Colin Miller for his 3rd good scoring chance of the game. BUF 3-2. Around 5 minutes later, Winnipeg appeared to get the break they needed when they got a 2nd PP chance but Reimer denied good looks from Scheifele & Gabriel Vilardi. The push for the tying goal became sloppy and a neutral zone mistake sprung Alex Tuch on SH breakaway to beat Comrie with a snipe from 20 ft out. BUF 4-2. With only 6:30 left in the contest, Nikolaj Ehlers hit the post in the short remaining PP time as the Jets tried to get back into the game. The Danish winger was able to close the gap on his next shift when he flew up the left wing before he blasted (94 MPH) a shot past Reimer to make the finish a bit more interesting. BUF 4-3. Unfortunately for the CLC crowd, an amazing comeback wasn’t in the cards as Buffalo was able seal the game with a long shot from their own end to score on the empty net.
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FINAL SCORE: BUFFALO SABRES 5 WINNIPEG JETS 3
FINAL STATS
Shots: 36-17 WPG / Hits: 24-20 WPG / Face-Offs: 53.8% WPG / x Goals: 3.99 WPG – 1.77 BUF /
MoneyPuck’s Deserve to Win: 89.7% WPG / High-Medium Danger Scoring Chances: 21 to 2 WPG
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SCORING SUMMARY from ESPN
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SHOT CHART from MoneyPuck
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ADVANCED SKATER STATS from MoneyPuck
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GOALIE STATS from ESPN & MoneyPuck
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If you would like to dive deeper into the game’s stats, follow the links below to the game pages:
MoneyPuck: Buffalo Sabres vs. Winnipeg Jets – Sunday March 23 2025 – MoneyPuck.com
NaturalStatTrick: Buffalo Sabres @ Winnipeg Jets, 2025-03-23
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BOJA’s Observations:
- Well, there is no arguing that this was a disappointment to watch. While the Winnipeg Jets controlled the puck for the vast majority of the game, they didn’t play with enough overall effort to overcome a strong performance by the Sabres’ James Reimer.
- The Jets also had to overcome a nightmare of a game by Eric Comrie, who only had to face 17 shots but still allowed 4 goals against & finished the contest with a .750 save % & a -2.88 Goals Saved Above Expected. While the backup tender wasn’t the only one who didn’t play good enough last night, Winnipeg probably would have won the game 3-2 if he played like a league average goalie.
- In case you missed it in the numbers above, the Winnipeg Jets out-chanced the Buffalo Sabres in medium & high danger looks 21 to 2. Not sure if our squad ever had a more dominating performance in that category this year….but in the end, all that matters are the chances to end with a puck hitting twine.
- The Jets’ top line was almost invisible for the first 2 periods, losing the expected goals battle in a game where Winnipeg totally controlled puck possession. A better final period allowed them to finish above the 50% mark, but the team is going to need a lot more from Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, & Gabriel Vilardi if they hope to make some noise in the playoffs.
- On the positive side, the True Northers’ received quality outings by the bottom six forwards. Feisty Brandon Tanev played his best game since his return to the Peg (85.9% xG) and the Adam Lowry trio looked to rediscover their elite forechecking game after a couple poor performances (92.7% xG).
Well, a missed opportunity by the Jets keeps their magic number at 9. Both of Winnipeg’s goaltenders appear to be struggling, the coaching staff can’t seem to get all 4 forward lines going in the same game, and the defense has been making more mistakes than we are used to seeing. Just what you want to see as the post-season nears.
Hopefully the challenge represented by the Jets next game will re-ignite the “A” games of the True Northers….a battle between the NHL’s top two teams is coming to the Canada Life Centre.
UP NEXT: Washington Capitals @ Winnipeg Jets – Tuesday, March 25th @ 7:00 pm CST
