All wins are pretty even when they’re not and the Sabres 4-2 win over the Flyers fits that description.
BUFFALO — The majority of Friday night’s tilt between the Buffalo Sabres and Philadelphia Flyers was as close to one-sided as it can get without it being a blowout. The Flyers dominated in pressure, possession, shots, and chances and for the majority of the game they virtually overwhelmed the Sabres.
And yet, through it all, the Sabres were never out of it. Hell, they even got the first goal of the game when Tage Thompson deked Flyers rookie goalie Ivan Fedotov, making his first NHL start, at 10:01 of the first period.
But after the Flyers tied it at 9:07 of the second period after the Sabres failed multiple times to clear their own zone and ultimately allowed a Noah Cates goal, coach Don Granato called a timeout. At one point they were being outshot 25-6 by the Flyers and the game was teetering out of control. That timeout snapped the Sabres out of the shell they’d been stuck in up to that point.
“That timeout was big for us,” Rasmus Dahlin said. “We just went back to the simple stuff. We were trying to complicate things when they started pushing and once we just started to do the right things out there, we played better, for sure.”
Dahlin was the person to highlight speaking to this because it was from that point on he took charge to lead the Sabres to victory.
“He is a significant leader and him taking charge is significant for us and for this organization,” Granato said. “He’s more talkative, more assertive. He knows he needs to step up and he is stepping up.”
More on Dahlin and the Sabres staying within shouting distance of the postseason with a win.
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If ever there was a question about who the next Sabres captain would be, Friday’s game can be filed away as a key supporting reason for why it will be Rasmus Dahlin.
Nearly six minutes after the Flyers tied the game at one and after Granato called timeout, during a 4-on-4 situation after matching minors to Jeff Skinner and Travis Konecny, Dahlin took a pass from Thompson in the attack zone, cut to the slot and unleashed a snapshot that whistled past Fedotov that gave Buffalo the lead once again, one they wouldn’t relinquish again.
“We play our best hockey when we shoot and have a shooting mentality,” Dahlin said. “Pucks got in to the net today but we’ve just got to continue to get pucks to the net because that’s when we play our best hockey.”
We can forgive Dahlin for using one of the forbidden terms from the Phil Housley era, but on a night where they were facing a guy making his first NHL start and who looked nervous throughout, shooting more had to be the gameplan from the beginning. That they were 30 minutes into the game and had five or six shots on goal was inexcusable. But that’s where Dahlin’s goal sparked them and flipped the momentum.
Following the timeout, the Sabres outshot the Flyers 7-0 and they closed the second period with a wired wrist shot from Jack Quinn that beat Fedotov to virtually the same location Dahlin did minutes before, with a little help from an accidental defensive screen.
“The goal (Quinn) scored, I think to make it maybe 3-1 but maybe right at the end of the second period, what a play by Dahlin,” Granato said. “High-end skill, breaks pressure—and they’re a hard pressure team—averts a hit or two low in our D-zone over to Owen Power, he sends it all the way up the ice to (Zach) Benson who makes a great play just to corral the puck and buy time for Jack and then obviously Jack with that time, he can pick his spot and he did.”
Tertiary assists aren’t a thing and the play Dahlin made to start it up won’t be found in any box score, but great breakouts that lead to goals have to be recognized. When it comes from the eventual captain of the team and player who helped swing the momentum, it’s going to be more than noticed, especially by the coach.
The third period could’ve gotten hairy, and it nearly did for Buffalo. Owen Tippett’s shot from the blue line through a crowd cut it to 3-2 with just over 10 minutes to play. Although Buffalo was trying to buckle down for the third period, Philly getting to within one snapped the Sabres attention back into place and led to them getting back to throwing the puck on the net.
Quinn did that in close and got a rebound off Fedotov near the side of the net and finished off the follow up and made it 4-2. The trio of Quinn, Benson, and Dylan Cozens was strong on a night where none of the fancy stats are going to smile upon anyone in blue and gold. But that line was able to out-attempt the Flyers at 5-on-5 in 9:34 11-7. They had a 7-1 edge in scoring chances and had 78.25 percent of the expected goals.
The young guys did work.
Even though the Sabres are/were the team furthest back in the race for the second wild card, the scoreboard worked in their favor Friday night and beating the Flyers helped them keep pace. With five games to go they’re four points back of the Islanders.
“We’re a team that never gives up,” Dahlin said. “We don’t listen to the outside noise. We’re a strong core in here and we will look at the result once the last game has been played. All we can do is just play our best hockey every game.”
Yes, there are games in hand for teams ahead of them and the final five games of the season have four of them on the road and none of them being particularly easy (at Detroit, at Dallas, vs. Washington, at Florida, at Tampa Bay). It’s a gauntlet of their own making, but much like they did last season, they’re making things a lot more interesting late than we thought they would be…but they’ve still got to win out.
“It’s hard to even think about two days ago, to be perfectly honest with you, and it’s hard to think anything but turn the page fast on this one to Sunday. … No time to think too much. You’ve got to stay right in the moment, and I think it’ll help the guys knowing they absolutely have – the urgency is the moment at hand and that’s probably helped us focus.”