For the first time in nearly a month, the Buffalo Sabres won, and emphatically so with a 7-1 thumping of the New York Islanders
ELMONT, NY — We’re going to keep this one short and sweet because it’s late at night at UBS Arena, it’s soon to be Christmas Eve (and it probably will already be that by the time many of you read this) and there’s a drive north to get home to rejoin the family for the holiday.
Fortunately, the Buffalo Sabres made it a joyful evening for themselves when they ended their 13-game losing streak with an emphatic 7-1 pasting of the New York Islanders.
The Sabres got the first goal of the game just 2:07 into the game then locked in and followed that up with four more and a 5-0 lead in the second period. They finished the night off with their biggest goal output of the season while Rasmus Dahlin put up four assists. Jiri Kulich scored two goals and an assist, Dylan Cozens had two assists, and Jack Quinn had a goal and an assist. They even had a power play goal and may as well have had two considering one goal came four seconds after a power play ended. They also blocked 31 Islanders shot attempts.
It was a butt-kicking in which the Sabres did virtually everything they had to do the right way and efficiently.
“Couldn’t feel better than I do right now,” Dahlin said. “We battled for a long time now and finally it went our way. When you do the right things over and over again, good things will happen to you. It’s up to us now to keep this thing going and not be satisfied about one win. We have a long way left, we just got to keep going.”
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We’ll elucidate this win by just sharing a handful of the key thoughts from the players who spoke following the game (Dahlin, Tage Thompson, and Jason Zucker). Doing a quote dump isn’t the way we do things here, but it’s the holidays, everyone’s attention is elsewhere, and there’s a long drive ahead tonight.
Tage Thompson
“Yeah, that stretch was tough. A lot weighing on us. It’s tough, especially during that stretch you played a decent amount of games you probably deserved better. Obviously don’t get the results and there were a handful of games were we didn’t play good enough. Obviously, it snowballs and can weigh on you and make you grip your stick and second guess yourself. I think everyone in here is proud of the way we stuck together. There wasn’t anyone blaming anyone else and pointing fingers. I think everyone did a good job of looking in the mirror and trying to figure out what they can do better. I think that speaks to the character we have in this room. We have a lot of guys who don’t even wear letters but are good leaders and that care about each other. Obviously, adversity is a test of your character, and I think going through it makes you stronger moving forward. Great morale in the room right now heading into break, a much-needed break for us. Mentally and physically to just now regroup and enjoy time with the family and reset for second half of the season with a win under our belt and some good mojo.”
Jason Zucker
“I think it’s more about the process of how we’re playing. And I think if we do that, then wins will take care of themselves. I think we’ll give ourselves opportunities to have games like tonight if you do the right things consistently. And that’s been our biggest flaw, or our Achilles’ heel all year, is doing it for 20 minutes and doing it for 40 minutes but not an entire game. And tonight, we did that. And obviously we’re going to have a lot of games the remainder of the year that we’re not going to have our best, or we’re going to have 20 bad minutes, whatever it may be. But we got to know that we can stick with that process and play the same way and we’ll be alright.”
Rasmus Dahlin on the power play success, but what he says applies to their all-around play as well.
“You’ve just got to go out there and play. I think in this whole season honestly, we’ve been thinking too much what we want to do. Today we just went out and played and played on instincts. The amount of talent we have in this room we should be able to just go out and play and you know, it starts with hard work.”
Have a wonderful holiday break, everyone, and I hope you all have peace and joy with your friends and loved ones. Here’s to hoping Santa Claus is as generous to you all as the Islanders were on this night.