The Sabres’ 5-3 win against the Detroit Red Wings was their third in a row, something that was a large issue a season ago.
BUFFALO — Everything was aligned for the Buffalo Sabres to put things together, figure out some of their own issues, and earn their first three-game winning streak of the season.
The Sabres were adorned in the red and black “Goathead” jerseys for an afternoon game against the Detroit Red Wings who rolled into the city with the NHL’s second-worst penalty killing unit entering the game and with Alex Lyon in goal who they chased from a start at KeyBank Center a year ago.
It wasn’t exactly the kind of game you’d want to show off proudly to friends, but it was a 5-3 Sabres win in which they finally scored on the power play (with Jason Zucker doing the honors) and got superstar performances from both Tage Thompson (two goals and an assist) and Rasmus Dahlin (three assists).
Wins are good, period, but wins against a division rival who haunted them a year ago, particularly late in the season when the lingering hope of the playoffs was still there. Division wins don’t count for more points than other wins, but they do matter a whole hell of a lot more when the standings figure to be tight.
“These are important games,” Thompson said. “We knew that heading in and we’ve been, towards the end of the season last couple years where it comes down to a point, and these ones in the beginning of the season add up. It’s a big game for us. We came out with some good intensity and desperation.”
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The Sabres winning three straight games is a pretty big deal that also double as really highlighting how mediocre things were a season ago.
Winning three in a row was something they did twice last year, once in late-February and again in mid-March when they were rallying to get back into the playoff picture. They never won more than three in a row, of course, and even winning consecutive games was a tricky enough feat.
But it’s almost Halloween and the Sabres have an active three-game win streak heading into Monday’s home rematch against Florida who should have Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov back in the lineup. They’ll probably also start Sergei Bobrovsky in goal. Whether this streak ends at three or not, they’ve accomplished something in the first month of this season that took them three-quarters of last season to pull off for the first time.
This sounds a bit like damning with faint praise, and we suppose it sort of is, but despite there still being a few issues that must be ironed out before we get seriously-serious about anything here, it’s worth crediting them for doing something any serious team should: stringing wins together.
“I think every team puts runs together of some distance, whether it’s three, eight, 10, whatever it is,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “If you can get momentum, I mean, there’s things that catch fire like your top line catches fire, your special teams catch fire. There’s different areas of your game that can really help you push. And I think right now we’ve got a top line that’s really been doing it. I think if our power play can gain a little bit more traction now it will help us continue on this run.
“But you do need it during the year, because you know there’s going to be a time when you’re playing good, you have a hot goaltender, you don’t put the puck in the net like we kind of started the year. So, take advantage when you get on a run.”
The Sabres are 4-1-1 in their past six games and the overtime loss at Pittsburgh is one that should still stick in their collective craws. Hockey in the early season is sloppy, but like Carter Hutton told us years ago while the team was in the heat of a 10-game winning streak, it’s all about banking points now when you’ll need them later on.
“We find ways to close games now and we play a full 60,” Dahlin said. “The third period, when we have the lead, we’re good at closing games right now. I think that’s what helps us.”
Winning one-goal games a year ago was also a problem. For all intents and purposes, today’s game was a one-goal win that was capped off with a Jack Quinn empty-net goal with 48 seconds left to play. That goal came moments after Patrick Kane hit a post and had a pair of grade-A chances to tie the game with Lyon pulled for the extra skater.
Winning a close one on Saturday meant getting the power play on the board. Zucker’s tally against one of the worst penalty killing units in the league was a huge relief for everyone involved. That power play in particular better resembled what we saw against Dallas in their one opportunity. Decisive passes, quick shooting decisions and generating actual chances in close.
The other three power plays the Sabres had in the game were more like what we’ve seen for most of the season. They weren’t cohesive, there was a lot of hesitation in passing and shooting, and ultimately, they allowed their second shorthanded goal of the season midway through the second period that tied the game at 3-3. Lucas Raymond forced a turnover when Dahlin and Thompson traded passes back and forth expecting each other to be the one to shoot. Only neither of them did and Raymond took advantage and beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen short side.
“I think on that one, for me, Dahls faked me out so hard that I thought he was shooting it, so I wasn’t really ready for that,” Thompson said. “We knew they were going to be aggressive. We have a lead, and their PK is very aggressive, and they got one there, but I thought (we) responded very well. Maybe in the past we would have let that sit and think about that for a few more shifts and let that affect our game, and I thought we did a good job just dumping it and moving forward. That’s what you need.”
There’s something to be said about that kind of mental fortitude. Thompson was 100 percent correct in his assessment and allowing a goal like that last season would’ve, more often than not, snowballed into Detroit piling on a couple more goals and running away with a win. That kind of fragility hasn’t been evident early on this season and that’s encouraging. Mistakes will always happen in hockey and allowing any error to eat you up can cause things to get out of hand. It’s a time when I wish the show “Ted Lasso” hadn’t made use of saying you need a “goldfish brain” to get past those kinds of situations because it’s the exact kind of thing I’d want to say to seem witty.
But it’s true and for all the talk the players did last year about just shaking off those kinds of mistakes and moving on, the actions didn’t match the words. Call it maturing, call it experience, call it just being sick of letting things get you down… so far, the Sabres are making sure to be stronger in the mind as well as the body.
The hope of getting Quinn right with his empty-net goal has to be high. His line with Dylan Cozens and Jason Zucker to start, and later with Jiri Kulich, had a tough game again. The advanced stats aren’t kind to them, visibly you can see them fighting it, and the confidence is about as low as it can be.
When Nicolas Aube-Kubel returns to the lineup, perhaps as early as Monday, the possibility of seeing Quinn return to the press box is out there. He was a healthy scratch against Columbus so it’s not as if he’s untouchable, but that would fly in the face of hoping a nice play and a 150-foot shot would get him turned around.
Aube-Kubel will play but whether it’s Quinn or Sam Lafferty or someone else that hops out of the lineup for him to return remains to be seen. It’s an uncomfortable time to be struggling, particularly when other lines are going so well.
Something else to watch is what’s up with Owen Power. He was spotted headed to the locker room, briefly, in the third period but returned to the bench. However, he did not play apart from that one shift early in the third period. Practice on Sunday may provide some clarity.
Power has played well so the hope is it’s nothing serious if anything at all.
Luukkonen wasn’t tested a lot for the first half of the game and 22 saves on 25 shots doesn’t grab anyone’s attention. The goals allowed were a stinger from Alex DeBrincat on a play with Moritz Seider that was very similar to the kind of goal Thompson and Power put together against Dallas. Michael Rasmussen scooped a backhand and roofed it by Luukkonen early in the second period that made it 3-2 Buffalo, but it was Raymond’s shorthanded goal that is a bit worrisome. It’s the second time Luukkonen’s been beat very tight to the short side (Drew O’Connor’s goal in Pittsburgh was similarly placed) and it’s the sort of goal that when you watch it, the immediate reaction is it was one he should’ve had.
It’s easy for us to say that watching, however, but getting beat that close to the post is really tough. We’re not putting down Luukkonen, he’s been very good, but going without commentary on goaltending seems to make people wonder what the heck is going on. A quiet net, or at least one that’s not raising eyebrows, is a good net.