It was oh-so-close to being a shutout for Eric Comrie, but it was the Sabres offense in a 3-1 win over the Islanders that took center stage.
We’re going to keep this one mostly short and semi-sweet because duties with the Associated Press required the bulk of my attention this evening. The Buffalo Sabres took down the New York Islanders 3-1 after they got a goal and an assist from Jeff Skinner and two brilliant assists from Casey Mittelstadt. They also got goals from Mattias Samuelsson (right?!) and Dylan Cozens.
Eric Comrie was nearly the lead story of the game but lost his shutout with under a minute to play after a Noah Dobson shot was partially blocked by Cozens and it hit Connor Clifton in the chest and fluttered past Comrie. He made 24 saves and played very well.
It should be noted the Islanders also looked dog-ass tired about 30 minutes into the game and it was at that point the Sabres really started to push the pace and push the Islanders’ buttons after they lost a tough one in overtime Friday night to the New Jersey Devils.
This game was the best effort of the young season for the Sabres. They knew what they had to do to break through the Islanders’ defense and applied all of that knowledge throughout the game. They got pucks in deep, they wore down New York appropriately considering the situation with it being the second game of a back-to-back, and most importantly they scored the first goal of the game (the first three, if you will).
Let’s empty out the brain tank with some thoughts on what was a good win that will assuredly raise a few more questions in the short term.
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Let’s start with Comrie because goaltending is always going to be the talk no matter what.
Levi didn’t dress for the game because he was dealing with a lower-body issue after the “sloppy” 4-3 loss to Calgary. It was an apropos time for a break because one of Comrie or Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen needed to get a start. Both have been off too long since last playing in preseason and whether you like it or not that Levi started the first four games, that’s what they decided to do.
Comrie played really well and that he got skunked out of a shutout because of a ridiculous set of bounces is funnier than it is sad. The team played like they were having a good time out there and Comrie kept it cool all game. He saw the puck well, played cool, and handled his business. A great start and he gave all the credit to his teammates for making it easy for him.
“I mean, the guys put forth one heck of an effort tonight,” Comrie said. “That was a hockey game for the guys in front of me. They were absolutely phenomenal. They were sharp right from the get-go. I mean, it was fun to watch my D-core work out there. They were boxing guys out, blocking shots, and everything they could to make it easy for myself. When you see guys do that in front of you, you just want to pay back the effort and I had so much fun doing it.”
Comrie is such an easy-going guy and he’s both a perfect stereotype of a goalie (funny, quirky, a bit odd sometimes) and completely not at all (extremely studious, very lighthearted, normal as hell) and when he does well, it lifts the team up, too.
“The thing with Coms is he’s working his bag off every day,” Mittelstadt said. “He’s one of the last guys on the ice, he’s taking shootouts, he’s taking shots the whole day, every day. At the same time, I think some stuff that you don’t see in the room that he does, I mean, he comes in the locker room, he’s smiling ear-to-ear every day. He’s talking pretty much to being annoying sometimes. But, no, he’s the best, great. One of the best guys I’ve ever played with, honestly. Such a good attitude.”
There’s not a goalie controversy here because Levi is clearly the guy. That’s why he started the first four games, you know. But if Comrie can play this well anytime he starts, it’s the kind of thing that could help lessen the potential load Levi could be in line for this season.
Next thing up is how Luukkonen will handle his first start that could come as soon as Monday against Montréal. Levi is the guy, Comrie showed he can play well even after a long layoff, and it puts pressure on Luukkonen to perform equally as well or else it will lead to some very uncomfortable questions about his future with the Sabres.
Zach Benson was out of the lineup with a lower-body injury that conveniently helps space out his games played until the nine-game threshold is reached, Don Granato juggled the lines once again:
Jordan Greenway—Tage Thompson—Dylan Cozens
Jeff Skinner—Casey Mittelstadt—Alex Tuch
JJ Peterka—Peyton Krebs—Victor Olofsson
Zemgus Girgensons—Tyson Jost—Kyle Okposo
Thompson’s line had an outstanding game by the eye test and an even better one by the nerd test (via Natural Stat Trick). It was reasonable to believe this would happen when you consider how well Greenway has played to start the year and Thompson started to look more like himself the last couple games. Cozens had a hard time trying to help out both Peterka and Olofsson the first couple of games and then his line was splintered up with specialized use against Calgary. Getting Thompson going is a priority and now he’s warming up. That’s good to see.
Mittelstadt’s line was super as well and Mittelstadt himself was again outstanding. His two assists were great plays, particularly the feed to Samuelsson from behind the net. He’s very much in control of his game and his linemates are reaping the benefits.
Skinner had his agility going and he must’ve had his mouth running too because the Isles were very focused on trying to hit him/hurt him. Adam Pelech twice took runs at him, once delivering a knee-on-knee hit in the slot that caused Tuch to grab Pelech for a fight. Tuch got an extra two minutes for roughing (deserved) but Pelech didn’t get one for kneeing (inexcusable).
Skinner wasn’t hurt on the play but he was definitely pissed off about it. Later on that period, Pelech went out of his way to try and bury Skinner along the wall, but Skinner dodged him and the Sabres were able to establish the zone and spend time there enough leading to Samuelsson’s 2-0 goal. I’ve said this plenty on social media, but when Skinner is shit-housing it usually means the Sabres are playing confident hockey and are much more dangerous to deal with. It was true again on Saturday.
The Peterka-Krebs-Olofsson trio didn’t have very good expected goal numbers, but they had the better of shot attempts and all three of them were highlighted by Granato for doing the right things to generate offense by driving the net. If they get another run Monday, I’ll be curious to see how that goes against a fresher team.
The so-called fourth line was good again and they established the style and tone for the early part of the game to show everyone else how they had to play to beat the Isles. Their expected goal numbers were outstanding. You just know Okposo is going to play well against his old team all the time, but I liked how Girgensons and Jost both performed as well.
Let’s talk for a moment about Rasmus Dahlin because what he’s doing this year already is fascinating.
He’s getting assists so there are points to get but we saw Saturday night that he got a bit more of his usual offensive pressure going than we’ve seen in the first few games. He set up Cozens’ goal with a great read and play coming up the right wing and took the puck to the net to force the issue on the Islanders defenders. A heads-up play that led to a vital insurance goal.
Dahlin was also once again outstanding defensively denying passes, flustering shooters, and menacing any player trying to take the puck anywhere near him. If there’s a statistic for potential scoring chances denied he’d assuredly be high up on the list. His defense has been so good that it’s made me wonder if it’s taking away from his offensive instincts and I believe there was a little bit of that going on in the first couple games. Saturday night signaled that he’s getting back into the mindset of sparking the offense by taking the puck himself and gaining the zone to force defenders to figure out how they want to handle him.
Dahlin’s fancy stats look a little odd because his shot attempt percentages are very good at 5-on-5 (second highest on the team behind Thompson at 56.4 percent) but the expected goal stats aren’t too hot at the moment (48.5 percent). It’s early and things can/will change, but it’s a curious thing now because it’s been only a few games.
Watching someone of Dahlin’s talent evolve his game in front of our eyes the way he’s done the past couple of years is a lot of fun. If his strengthened defense maintains and the offense explodes again, man… that’s going to be a real treat.