Catching glimpses
A Sabres 6-3 win against the Penguins provided peeks into the future and the past
BUFFALO — Through 10 games, the Buffalo Sabres have provided an idea of what they can be someday. Whether that day comes this season or next or the one after, the future is visible and it gleams.
There have been visions of it over the past three games, and the latest, a 6-3 win over the forever nemesis Pittsburgh Penguins, could lead one to bust out every cliché in the book about an older champion ceding way to the fresh-faced upstarts. But that’s far too grandiose to do right now, especially after 10 games. But what’s there is looking good right now.
There have already been a few games this season where the end result came away in Buffalo’s favor but ended with, “If this was last year’s/another previous year’s team, they’d lose that game.” Hell, you could say that about the last three games. They all had moments where previous teams would’ve packed it in and called it a night and gotten steamrolled the rest of the way.
The Chicago game had a vastly inferior team have good fortune while being trounced statistically, but the pucks weren’t going in for the Sabres. The Detroit game saw a multi-goal lead get cut to one early in the third period on a shorthanded goal before the Sabres melted the Red Wings down with ferocity.
On Wednesday night, the Penguins, fresh off blowing a 5-2 lead against the Boston Bruins in a 6-5 overtime loss the night before, got out to 2-0 and 3-1 leads against the Sabres. The third goal came eight seconds into the third period while the Pens were on the power play and Kris Letang made this pass to Jake Guentzel for the goal.
…If this was last year’s team, they’d lose 6-1…
An elite player who’s always beaten the Sabres makes an incredible play to set up a goal. A tale as old as time. Well, for the past 15 years or so at least. But like the previous two games, instead of withering away and being sad, the Sabres rose up and pushed the pace against a team that was surely due to hit the wall after playing 60+ minutes last night, and it was the usual cast of characters leading the way in an uncommon situation.
Tage Thompson stayed blazing hot with a power play goal. Yes, those have been hard to come by, but this one was different because it happened because they had their best power play shift so far this season.
The passing and cycling were pretty to watch, but what made this so nice was how the Sabres weren’t static and they made the Penguins penalty killers have to move their feet to keep up. This is how you get Thompson to be so open and to have a whole lot of net to shoot at.
“That power play goal was really nice for me and the coaches to see because we want that movement, that motion, guys interchange position,” Sabres coach Don Granato said.
Granato praised seeing their offensive creativity come out in the moment. The power play has gotten a lot of heat since the beginning of the season, and a lot of it is justified because it hasn’t looked strong. But perspective is needed sometimes.
“We haven’t been together for, I don’t know, six years like that group over there, 10 years, I don’t know how long the Penguins have been on the power play together,” Alex Tuch said. “You work on that chemistry, and it takes time. It takes time and you continue to build off of it. We made some good strides today. We’ve got a couple power play goals the last few games which is giving us confidence, but we’ve got to continue to bear down and try to make a difference each and every time we’re out there.”
Seeing movement like that gives us an idea of what the power play can be like. A group that has all the players who are having monster starts to the season can’t be ineffective with the man advantage all the time. Eventually they’ll find a rhythm and then that’s when things get really interesting.
Power Up
Being a 19-year-old rookie defenseman in the NHL means taking time to adjust to the pace and play. Owen Power is going to be an incredible player and a lot of his brilliance has been seen when he does those little things that aren’t immediately noticeable. Then he goes and makes a play like this and it’s as if he’s serving notice that the mood is about to change.
Power rears back like that to take a presumed slap shot and then deviates to find a wide-open Victor Olofsson parked in his office at the circle. It’s a beautiful play and it takes some kind of vision and confidence to make a pass off like that. Power has been quietly very good the past few games. It’s always easier to judge a player based on how many points they’re putting up or how much they’re throwing the body around, but everything Power does looks effortless even when it’s brilliant.
There was another superb assist, this one on the go-ahead goal from Thompson.
Thompson’s pass to Tuch here is very similar to the pass Jeff Skinner made to Thompson against Chicago. The Sabres gave up oodles of odd man rushes in the first two periods against Pittsburgh, but when they turned the tables, they made it count on this play. Good teams and good players make teams pay for lacking execution in their own end. The Sabres are starting to make teams pay for their errors, even the slightest ones. Accomplishing that can make teams lacking in confidence or coherence get wound a little tighter and create more problems for themselves.
Pure Hustle
I don’t usually get too excited about empty net goals for obvious reasons. But Kyle Okposo’s empty netter got me to ask a couple guys about it.

It starts with Rasmus Dahlin sending one the length of the ice after the Sabres won a faceoff in their end. What looked like an eventual icing call was washed out by Zemgus Girgensons hauling ass and winning the race for the puck and then winning the board battle which led to Okposo putting it home from an angle.
I wondered if it was a set play and upon reflection of that, I’m a doofus. Dahlin and Girgensons said it wasn’t and probably wondered if I was high for asking.
Dahlin said that with an empty net you just want to send it down the ice and maybe hit the net. Girgensons said he just wanted to make sure he beat out the icing so there wouldn’t be another draw and they could work the clock down.
Girgensons is all heart and he’s one of the hardest working players on the team. He puts in a lot of time in the offseason to make sure he’s in tip top shape and he’s consistently strong at what he does. I know a lot of those phrases are usually cover for a guy that’s not as talented but still does his job. I’m not going to make Girgensons into a David Eckstein of hockey (gritty, gutty, gets his uniform dirty, isn’t very good, etc.) but when a player with his work ethic and dedication to his role succeeds, it’s worth recognition and appreciation.