Instead of getting mad, the Sabres got even and then got a win in overtime against the St. Louis Blues
BUFFALO — The Buffalo Sabres had plenty of opportunities to get mad, get frustrated and get on the wrong side of the ledger on Thursday night. Instead, they got payback in a karmic way.
The Sabres got a 4-3 win in overtime against the St. Louis Blues when Rasmus Dahlin scored a power play goal in the extra session to put them over the top. But that’s the end of the story. The beginning of it came when an apparent tying goal by Dylan Cozens was wiped out after a goaltender interference challenge by Blues coach Drew Bannister. Everything that followed it showed a Sabres team that found a way to re-focus their attention on what needed to be done and accomplished it.
“We’re not forcing stuff; we’re waiting for our opportunities,” Dahlin said. “You saw what we were doing there at the end. I think it comes from learning the game and being mature. So, we’re talking steps every day, so it’s good.”
We make references often here (maybe too often) about how games that play out the way they did now were different from how they would’ve played out in the past. This one is no different because nine times out 10 this one goes down as a loss that pisses everyone off. But when Ryan McLeod got Blues goalie Jordan Binnington moving the wrong way from behind the net to pass to Alex Tuch to score into a yawning net to tie it, things changed.
Instead of stringing together losses once again, the Sabres got back to winning after dropping an ugly game on Monday. Instead of saying they lost two in a row, we’re saying they’ve won four of the last five. It’s all a matter of perspective, but despite the flaws that popped up in the game, the result is what matters most in this case. The process can be adjusted afterward.
“You’ve got to be able to overcome tough moments,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “Our second period wasn’t that good, but the answer in the third period was. We started to control play again. We started to skate through the neutral zone. A few guys didn’t have a very good night and we were able to overcome that at the same time, so big win for our club. We talked about not losing two games in a row.”
More from a win to build on ahead.
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We’re not going to throw flowers on this game, but a few nods of appreciation for the effort are in order here.
This was a game played without leading scorer Tage Thompson and starting goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen which upped the difficulty level on a game that, on paper, should not have been terribly difficult. Of course, we’ve seen what happens when teams, particularly the Sabres, tend to buy into that reasoning and, yeah, not good. So, maybe, being without Thompson and Luukkonen set the bar needed to be zeroed in.
Well… kind of.
The Sabres had to roll with new lines with Thompson out and newly re-acquired on waivers James Reimer backed up Devon Levi.
The top line featured Tuch, McLeod, and Zach Benson; the second line saw Cozens with JJ Peterka and Jack Quinn once again; the third line was Jordan Greenway and Jason Zucker centered by Peyton Krebs while the fourth line saw Nicolas Aube-Kubel return to action with Beck Malenstyn and Sam Lafferty. Defense pairs remained the same until Ruff switched up the top two pairs in the second period putting Jacob Bryson with Rasmus Dahlin and Bo Byram with Owen Power.
It’s the top line that’s worth of attention here.
All three of Benson, McLeod and Tuch had the Sabres goals and are the reason this game got to overtime. Since Benson returned from his ankle injury (Lindy Ruff mentioned the specific injury on WGR this week) he’s got three goals in five games. McLeod’s goal was his fifth of the season and his assist to Tuch for the tying goal was both smart and cheeky given how he drew Binnington’s attention so much he bit hard to slide to the far post and left the near post wide open.
Is this a trio that will stick together when Thompson returns? Not likely at all, but what it does is highlight how McLeod is not just a guy who skates fast, drives possession, and plays strong defensively. There’s more to what he can do and when afforded the opportunity, he does it.
“He’s a hell of a player, so more than speed,” Dahlin said. “The pass he made, unbelievable hockey IQ.”
Any time McLeod does something that sticks out in a game is an opportunity for Sabres fans to line up and re-litigate the trade with Edmonton, but rather than do that, it should be a moment to be happy that general manager Kevyn Adams took a big risk to add a player to help the team out right now. Adams hasn’t been perfect, but, trading a guy he drafted ninth overall just a few years ago for a more defensive center is a massive, potentially career-defining trade. The returns are very early, but the Sabres have gotten exactly what they hoped for out of McLeod.
“In this league it’s tough,” McLeod said. “You don’t want to get too high or get too low. We came in on a three-game winning streak, but I think we came into Montreal and played a soft game, didn’t get to our game. So, tonight we found a way to win, and that’s kind of all that matters in this league.”
I wanted to give Benson a few games to get a feel for how he’s playing after he came back from injury, but immediately he looked more like the guy we saw last season and against the Blues he was on another, even better, level.
His goal in the first period came four seconds after the Sabres power play expired, but his no-look shot from the side of the net found a way to get under Binnington to tie the game 1-1. There was something about facing the Blues that brought a bit more of the snarl out of a few Sabres players, but Benson was a trolling terror all night.
“I thought his game was real good,” Ruff said. “He was a pain to them every time he was on the ice.”
Benson playing like this creates a different kind of weapon. Yes, he’s very skilled and slick with the puck. But when he’s getting under the skin of opponents and drawing them into taking penalties, it heightens his value. We said it last season that he had some Jeff Skinner traits to his game, and chirping and not taking any crap from opponents are it. They’re different players in other respects, but in driving foes bonkers, they’re twins.
“He’s feisty,” McLeod said. “He’s very skilled with the puck, he was heavy on it. He makes a lot of good plays. He gets to the net a ton. Just all around, it’s fun to play with a guy like that.”
The apparent ankle issue Benson dealt with earlier in the year and ultimately took a seat for a few games because of it, really sapped a lot of what makes him a difference-maker. It was his presence at the top of the crease in the third period on Cozens’ disallowed goal that allowed Cozens to beat Binnington.
“I’ve watched a lot of hockey this year, and I’ve seen goalies get pushed in the net and it counts,” Benson said. “So, I mean, I’d just like to see consistency on that. I mean, it’s a hard job, I get it. But I’d love to see a little more consistency on those calls.”
The call was frustrating because those kinds of challenges are essentially coin flips now on whether or not the league will allow it. Benson standing barely in the crease while jostling with Ryan Suter was enough to get it wiped out but being around the net like that is another part of his game that makes him dangerous. Ruff said it’s an area he wants to see Benson, “101 times out of 100.”
“I can definitely get my feet out of the paint, but yeah, that’s my game,” Benson said. “I love being around there, I love creating havoc around there, and like I said, I’ve seen calls go the other way, so I’m not going to not go there.”
It’s ironic that it was St. Louis forward Oskar Sundqvist bowling through Levi in the final minute of the third period to get called for goalie interference that ultimately turned the game for the Sabres. As controversial as Benson’s presence was on Cozens’ nullified goal, Sundqvist’s penalty was academic.
The Sabres start a four-game road trip, albeit with a bit of a break in the middle of it, on Saturday. They go to Philadelphia to deal with Matvei Michkov and the Flyers. Next week, they head to California to face the West Coast triumvirate of the Kings, Ducks, and Sharks with a back-to-back set with Anaheim and San Jose. Out of those four games, there are three teams they should beat and a Kings team they should’ve beaten earlier this season. Being serious about the playoffs means taking those weaker teams serious and walking out with the points.