Over the last few seasons, two of the worst teams in the National Hockey League have been the Chicago Blackhawks and Buffalo Sabres. Remarkably, the Blackhawks and Sabres both won on Wednesday, and in the process scored a ton of goals along the way. The Sabres won their first game of the season by clobbering the Ottawa Senators 8-4, and the Chicago Blackhawks won their second game of the season as they put a beatdown on the St. Louis Blues by a score of 8-3.
Sabres win
Earlier this week we discussed the possibility that Sabres General Manager Kevyn Adams was on the hot seat and that Buffalo Sabres fans were getting restless. On Wednesday in the four-goal Sabres win, Buffalo scored four times in the second period and three times in the third period. It was a poor night for Senators goaltender Leevi Merilainen, who was playing his 15th NHL career game. Merilainen made only 19 saves on 26 shots for a horrendous save percentage of .731.
Offensively for the Sabres, Zach Benson of Chilliwack, British Columbia led the way with four points as he had four assists. Josh Doan also had three assists. Three Sabres had two goals. They were Jason Zucker, Jack Quinn and Ryan McLeod. The other Sabres players with a multi-point game were Alex Tuch (one goal and one assist), Tage Thompson (two assists), and defenseman and captain Rasmus Dahlin (two assists). The other Sabres goal scorer was Jiri Kulich.
Blackhawks win
Chicago scored frequently on Blues backup goaltender Joel Hofer, who gave up seven goals in the Chicago win. Chicago was led offensively by Connor Bedard, the former first overall pick, from Vancouver, British Columbia, who had three assists for three points, and Lukas Reichel of Nurnberg, Germany, who had two goals and one assist for three points.
Three more Blackhawks had a multi-point game. Tyler Bertuzzi had one goal and one assist for two points, Ilya Mikheyev  had one goal and one assist for two points, and Alex Vlasic has two assists. Meanwhile, four Blackhawks scored a goal for their single point. They were Jason Dickinson, Ryan Donato, Ryan Greene and Frank Nazar.
Lukas Reichel and Tyler Bertuzzi have something interesting in common. They are nephews of former NHL players. Lukas Reichel is the nephew of former Calgary Flame Robert Reichel, and Tyler Bertuzzi is the nephew of former Vancouver Canuck Todd Bertuzzi.
Chicago has now won two straight games. They defeated the Utah Mammoth 3-1 on Monday.
