After a 2-0 first period deficit threatened to make Friday night look like Wednesday night, the Buffalo Sabres found the missing gear in a 5-2 win over New Jersey.
BUFFALO — Given how fantastically ugly the Buffalo Sabres 6-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators was on Wednesday, seeing the New Jersey Devils open up a 2-0 lead in the first period off of goals that went in off of Sabres players, it was a fascinating moment to see just how they would respond.
After all, Wednesday’s game melted down in rapid fashion and despite some efforts, they were unable to put a tourniquet in place to stop the bleeding.
But the Sabres were able to prevent New Jersey from padding the lead in the first and after a goal from Tage Thompson 28 seconds into the second period, the tenor changed from that point on. Thompson completed a natural hat trick and capped it off with the Sabres’ second empty net goal in the third period to finish off a four-goal game to lead them to a 5-2 win.
It was a game New Jersey had to have to continue their climb towards the wild card race they had suddenly become part of. Instead, the Sabres gave them a taste of what it feels like to come up very short in a need-to-win game. Like crabs in a bucket, Buffalo brought New Jersey back into the pile of playoff wannabes.
“If you look at the season as a whole, there’s a lot of games or situations where things didn’t seem to go our way as a group or individuals and, obviously, (Wednesday) night didn’t go the way we wanted and wasn’t a good enough effort especially at the time of the year we’re at right now,” Thompson said. “I thought, (we) kind of get off to a similar start down two, it would have been easy to kind of just fold the tent and pack in and I thought we responded the right way. I think that says a lot about the character in the room and the guys we’ve got here.”
More on an impressive Sabres win Friday night ahead…
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The biggest takeaway from this game is the performance of the top line. Thompson had four goals and was a force all game. Alex Tuch had a pair of assists and JJ Peterka had the first empty-net goal and perpetually kept plays and shifts alive all game for that line.
Putting those three together has been a huge success. That’s not surprising, of course. Peterka has been dynamite all season long and now he’s up to 27 goals. What’s better about his game is his confidence with the puck and his growing appreciation for shooting it. He should shoot more because his shot is very good, but more importantly, his shot helps create opportunities for Tuch and Thompson both because teams have to respect him.
But it’s Thompson who has to make it go, and he was more than going on Friday.
“When he’s feeling it like that, I mean, he’s one of the best players in the world,” Tuch said. “I feel like he’s dominant out there and he just takes over games and when you’re playing with a guy like that, I’m just trying to create as much room and space and get him the puck as much as possible. He’s going to be able to find himself in the slot there for a couple really good, grade-A opportunities and he was able to cash in, so I think that’s huge. If he continues to roll with that confidence, you never know what will happen down the stretch here.”
Some of you who are more hardened read that line and are saying to yourself, “OK Alex, whatever, it’s over.” And hey, even I said it was all but officially over after the Wednesday loss. But as we watched on Friday, even teams that are “in the race” aren’t immune from slamming their own hand in the car door. If the Sabres beat Toronto on Saturday and Washington loses to Boston, the Sabres would be four points back of the Capitals with two games to play against them yet.
Anyway…
Even though we’re dazzled by Thompson’s explosiveness, Devon Levi getting the call to start in goal proved to be an interesting call and one that paid off in the end.
Levi allowed the two goals off freakish bounces and pucks off his teammates, but fared extremely well when he fended off the Devils who not only had quick, creative play in the zone, but the Sabres also managed to lose track of Jack Hughes on a couple of occasions and Jesper Bratt once for breakaways in which he stopped.
There’s no goalie controversy here, obviously, but seeing the version of Levi that’s both fun to watch and handling everything very well is exciting no matter what. After 28 saves against the Devils, it was good to see how Levi’s learned more, physically and mentally, after some time in Rochester.
“It’s easy to feel like it’s the end of the world, you let in two quick ones,” Levi said. “But it’s when the mental toughness comes in. It’s when you rely on your teammates and kind of come together as a group and just chip away at it and try get back into the game.
“I have no doubt in the boys. Two goals (are) not a lot for our team to score.”
It’s not a lot when Thompson is firing the puck the way we’ve grown accustomed to seeing and capitalizing upon chances around the net. Thompson’s play in the past month-plus has been noticeably better and the offensive game is much stronger than it was from when he hurt his arm/wrist/hand. The confidence is there in everything he’s doing and now that pucks are finding the back of the net, the idea he can reach 30 goals this year is not out of the question. His four tallies on Friday night pushed him to 25 on the season.
If a guy gets hot, you keep feeding him, right?
“He can snap it, he can snap the biscuit,” Levi said. “Yeah, he’s got a rocket. It’s hard to see. He changes the angle really well. He pulls its. He’s an elite scorer. He knows where to shoot.”
As we’ve seen all season long, the good times for the Sabres can be fleeting from game to game, but with Toronto in town for Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday, there are some Biblical allusions that would be made if the Sabres keep the good times going against the Maple Leafs and the Capitals slip back into the bucket.