Buffalo took out Dylan Cozens and the Ottawa Senators 3-2 on Tuesday night
BUFFALO — Being that it’s 70 games into the season, the results are almost secondary to anything else that might be going on surrounding the game. On Tuesday night, Dylan Cozens returned to Buffalo in an Ottawa Senators sweater and even though Josh Norris wasn’t able to suit up for the Sabres (undisclosed), Jacob Bernard-Docker was back in on defense after showing some offensive touch since he entered the lineup.
It wasn’t exactly the post-trade showdown people were hoping to see, but it was still a curiosity, nonetheless. Cozens was held to an assist on Brady Tkachuk’s first period power play goal, but Bernard-Docker got his first goal as a Sabres defenseman and first since December 7 with Ottawa against Nashville that helped tie the game 2-2 and jolt the Sabres along to a 3-2 win. Jack Quinn and Tage Thompson had the other goals with Thompson’s 35th of the season being the game-winner in the third. James Reimer made 30 saves in his second straight start for the win.
The victory was also coach Lindy Ruff’s 600th with the Sabres and that made him just the second coach in NHL history to win that many with one team. Al Arbour is No. 1 by a long shot with 740 wins with the New York Islanders.
Following the game, Ruff said he wasn’t aware he’d hit that milestone until after the game, but it gave him time to contemplate what it means to accomplish it and to consider what he’s done this season and what he wants to make sure gets done next year. Getting back the Sabres head job after 11 years away from it meant he’s felt personally compelled to right the Sabres’ ship and return the team to the playoffs. That it’ll have to wait until next year at least is something that chews at him.
“I’m a guy that, from day one, has always think I can fix everything,” Ruff said. “I haven’t been able to fix everything. This year has been a disappointment for me from day one. I said it earlier, if we could take the 13 games out of the season, just even split that in half. Because before we got to the 13 games, we were like 11-9-2. The games after that, we’re three or four games over .500. That segment of games killed our club, and I feel personally responsible that there were games that were right there that could’ve turned it and got it the other way. And we didn’t get it done. I also feel that the way we’re playing now, these last 40, is conducive to winning those types of games. So, it’s been tough, obviously.”
Every coach is a control freak to varying degrees and Ruff being unable to get the Sabres playing the way he wants them to do sooner is something that’s clearly bothered him all season. The postgame losses where you can see and hear his frustration with not being able to get everyone on the same page or hammering out the bad habits quicker have been many. Even though the bad losses of late stand out and any embarrassing moments in games feel like piling on, better hockey is being played…it’s just too late to matter.
More ahead from Ruff and the Sabres after another solid win against an above-board team…
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It was fascinating to hear Ruff take stock of the season and for him to be so open about how he wants to fix everything and not being able to do it as fast as possible is something that pains him. He’s got another year on his contract and, barring anything really out of left field happening, he’ll have the offseason and a training camp that won’t be stunted for the team to head to Europe to get it all mapped out the way he wants it. Getting that foundation set means getting things done the right way, right now.
“I can honestly say it drives my wife crazy, when she thinks I can fix everything. I’ve had to call a few electricians over time—it does,” Ruff said. “These last two games, really, they were hard games. It was a hard schedule for us, and to muscle your way through the Winnipeg game, a team that’s really good in their own building. And then come back home, get a little bit of rest and be ready to go again. Faced some adversity in the first period, which we hadn’t been able to master or conquer. I thought our guys got through the penalties and settled down and started to take over the game. And that’s really what a good team does.”
It wasn’t picture perfect on Tuesday. Tuesday morning, Ruff made it a point to say when I asked him if he wanted players to lean into the emotions of the game or play it cool given previous matchups and especially because it’s the first meeting since the trade. He said he wanted cool heads to prevail and to especially not take penalties. What did the Sabres do? They took penalties and they paid for it.
Both of Ottawa’s goals came on the power play. Tkachuk’s opening goal came 11 seconds after Tage Thompson high-sticked Drake Batherson in front of the benches just 1:35 into the game.
Quinn’s tally came after J-J Peterka made a whirling blind pass from the faceoff circle to him and he was able to rip a shot past Anton Forsberg late in the first to tie it up.
Just over six minutes into the second period, Peterka took a hit from Senators defenseman Travis Hamonic well away from the puck and wasn’t happy about it. He had some words for the officials on his way to the bench and whatever he said was enough to earn him an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. During that power play, David Perron cashed in to make it 2-1 and that’s the kind of penalty that would make any coach mad and Peterka played only three more shifts that period. He wasn’t benched, but his rotations were cut down because of that and a later penalty for hooking to Bo Byram that the Sabres killed.
But with 7:01 left in the second, Bernard-Docker got a shot through a crowd after some excellent work in the zone by Tyson Kozak and Peyton Krebs to maintain possession to celebrate his first goal with his new team.
“It’s not my game to be honest with you,” Bernard-Docker said. “It’s great when the offense comes but it’s, for me it’s just kind of taking pride in being hard to play against and making sure that I’m reliable. When the offense comes, it’s nice, but it’s not my primary focus at all.”
Throughout his amateur and pro career, Bernard-Docker has been a prototypical defensive defenseman. The points are few and the goals are even fewer and far between. That flies in the face of seeing him post two assists in the win over Winnipeg and then adding a goal on Tuesday. After recovering from injury and getting his work visa straightened out after the trade, getting on the ice and playing games has been a long time coming for him.
“I think when I was injured I kind of had to sit back and evaluate my game a bit and—not that I’m an offensive wizard by any means—but I think maybe just skating up a little bit more, joining the rush a little more,” Bernard-Docker said. “I tried to watch a bit of video when I was out and, yeah, I mean it’s a small sample size, so it doesn’t mean that much.”
Humility goes a long way, especially when fighting for ice time.
The Sabres went ahead to stay in the third period after a monster shift from Zach Benson. He hounded the puck around the offensive zone and was relentless in trying to maintain possession and to get it back if a Senators defender attempted to escape with it. His work paid off when he got the puck back behind the net and slipped a pass out front to Thompson who quickly slipped it past Forsberg for a 3-2 lead 1:23 into the period.
As has become standard for Buffalo in third periods in which they have a lead, their sole motivation was to prevent any offense coming back at them. It’s not thrilling to watch, but seeing teams struggle to find room on the ice and get their own rush started at least provides a vision of what Ruff has been trying to get the team to be better at doing defensively. Closing out games was a big issue earlier this season and it’s been much less of one in the second half. Reimer stood tall in the end and locked down another win.
If you’ve found yourself rooting for losses for draft purposes, I commend you for being able to keep at that after all these years and only ask, “Are you OK?” The draft isn’t pointless, mind you, but what ails this team hasn’t been a lack of help from younger players, it’s been a lack of veteran help. That the Sabres pulled out a win on Tuesday without Jordan Greenway, Sam Lafferty and Josh Norris, shows they’ve found a way to make things work when they’re absent.
Still, you’d ideally like to see the Sabres rally a bit late in the season and maybe even play spoiler for some teams along the way. We’ve all gotten used to watching seasons wind down this way, but this is what will put the onus on Kevyn Adams to make sure they’re not doing it again next year by having an appropriately aggressive summer to ensure it.