Game Nine: When the dam busts open
The win was never in doubt, but the goal onslaught was eye-opening in the Sabres 8-3 win over the Red Wings
I’m going to spare the faux-game story style of this to take a moment to appreciate how frets and worries after a handful of games at the start of a season are usually all for naught because everything will right itself eventually.
First, an apology of sorts: Some of you may have been expecting a write-up following the comeback overtime win against Chicago on Saturday, but I was on game story duty for the AP and their paycheck demanded my full attention for the evening. Feel free to read that very official and professional game story at the AP Sports website if you’re so inclined. Consider that Game Eight of Noted Hockey, but it’s wearing a suit and tie and not jeans and a flannel.
Onto the Sabres Halloween festivities against my old flame, the Detroit Red Wings. If you were unaware, I was a Wings fan, but as a professional writer I put the direct fandom to bed so as to be impartial, of course, but also able to better enjoy all teams and players in the league. Trying to write about everyone with a skewed view through rose-tinted glasses benefits no one, except maybe the Red Wings. Fortunately (?) for me, the Red Wings I pulled for either got old, retired, or left the NHL and they turned into a team that better resembled the “Darkness With Harkness” Dead Wings than anything they had through the 90s and 2000s.
Call it convenient timing if you want, but sometimes timelines settle out that way.
A N Y W A Y
Upon the Sabres return from the Western Canada/Seattle trip, some of the worries had by fans and perhaps colleagues alike were about the slow starts for Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner among a couple others (Casey Mittelstadt, Victor Olofsson) who have had a few more knives out for them.
Coach Don Granato said recently that the perspective on slow starts at the beginning of a season are interesting because who starts their season in midseason form? I guess Connor McDavid can, but he’s a freak of nature without a peer.
The Montreal game caused consternation because the common belief is the Habs will stink but are playing over their heads (plausible) plus they got goalie’d by Sam Montembeault (fact check: True). The upside to that loss was Skinner got in the goal column at last and Dylan Cozens got his third.
But the frets come out when losses string together and that was the second in a row following the stinker against the Kraken. Never mind that Buffalo outshot Montréal 45-34 the day after they returned from the west coast and were likely still feeling the time adjustment after spending 10 days in two different time zones.
The Chicago game Saturday presented a different brand of worries because the Sabres blew the Blackhawks doors off in the first period but wound up 1-1 after 20 minutes with each team scoring on the power play. Olofsson had the tally so that was good! But the second period was far and away the worst period of hockey Buffalo played so far this season.
The Blackhawks are bad and played a poor game against Buffalo and they outshot the Sabres 17-15 in the second period. There were no penalties that period so that all came at 5-on-5. Yikes. Worse yet, Chicago scored twice and the Sabres looked like a team that had their talent stolen by the hockey version of the Monstars. The Sabres played bad and should feel bad because of that.
But as I pointed out, the Blackhawks are bad, and the Sabres woke up.
They outshot Chicago 16-3 at 5-on-5 and Tage Thompson did some dirty work down low to score one goal and tapped in a perfect pass from Skinner to tie the game with under four minutes to go in the period for his second tally. Jonathan Toews took a brutal holding penalty with under two minutes to play which meant if the Sabres didn’t score in regulation, they’d have a chance to finish the job 4-on-3 in overtime…which they did when Dahlin got a Chicago skater to bite on a shimmy and he fed Olofsson for a patented Goalofsson bomb from the circle. Rescuing victory from the jaws of defeat always feels good and it was clear it gave Buffalo a lift.
That leads us to Monday night.
Remember now, there was concern about Thompson getting out of the gate slowly, but when there’s a thoroughbred like him, getting the legs moving and the dangles in check means a breakout is coming and boy howdy did he ever.
Thompson had a hat trick and six points, most by a Sabres player in a game since Pat LaFontaine. The team record is seven set by (who else?) Gilbert Perreault in 1976. Buffalo won 8-3.
Funny enough, the Sabres at one point in the game had a 4-1 lead and appeared well on their way to a laugher. This time around they took the scenic route which involved the Red Wings getting back into the game after goals from David Perron and a shorthanded goal from Dylan Larkin just over four minutes into the third. But rather than sit around and be sad, the Sabres pushed back and scored four goals in the final seven minutes to dance away with the win. Thompson’s hat trick goal was icing on the cake for the brilliant game he had.
Peep Dahlin’s reaction at the end of the highlight. You’ll see it…
Screw it, just look at this:
After the game, Dahlin said Thompson is playing with a lot of swagger right now (fact check: TRUE). I asked him if some of his swagger is rubbing off on Thompson. He laughed.
“I mean, the whole team today. The last period here we just…took over. They were trying to get momentum (back) the whole game, but we just rolled over them the whole game and the last period we just kind of took over. It wasn’t individual crazy stuff on the ice, but it was also a team win.”
I asked him what the thought was when Detroit closed to within 4-3:
“I didn’t feel any shakiness on the bench. We just kept going and kept pushing. We have so much confidence in the group right now. We’re not scared of losing, the only thing on our minds is winning right now.”
Dahlin had a goal of his own. He said he was trying to pass it to Skinner for a tip-in. Instead, it went five-hole on Alex Nedeljkovic and trickled across the line. A goal’s a goal, man.
As for Skinner, he notched another one himself, his 300th in the NHL. Skinner’s goals come in waves and after he scored against Montréal you could sense more were on the way. Perhaps this is the start of a run. His shot percentage numbers previous to the Chicago game (one goal on 20 shots, 5%) indicated a correction would be due.
Speaking of due, how about Jack Quinn.
First off, how about the vision of my guy Dan Dunleavy knowing immediately the puck went in. Quinn hit the back center bar of goal and it spat the puck back out, a wicked snipe. Quinn’s play against Montreal was good, and against Chicago he was outstanding, and it continued against Detroit. He had a 65.1 percent xGF at 5-on-5 and the Sabres had the edge in shot volume when he was on the ice. His play has been building towards getting results like this, just patience is required with all young guys. Quinn may have had a couple games upstairs to soak things in, but at this rate the only way he’ll be back in the press box is if he gets hurt. He’s good. Also, he hits (???????????????)
I’m not going to go over all the goals, this is already a long enough read, but Cozens had another one and he’s up to four goals. He’s been outstanding all season and now the goals are coming. Look out.
Asplund got his first of the season after returning to the lineup on Monday. It was the salt-in-the-wound eighth goal of the game for Buffalo. Oh, and he was also 82.5 xGF% and 89.5 percent CorsiFor at 5-on-5 (17-2). Decent, I guess.
Next up: Pittsburgh on TNT Wednesday night. Keep your eyes out for a feature at Bleacher Report about the Sabres and how things are working out a year removed from the Eichel trade. So far, so good for both teams this season. Eichel’s leading Vegas in scoring and they’re 8-2-0 to start the season. They’ll also be in Buffalo next week. That may garner some attention.
Check out this week’s episode of Maintenance Day if you haven’t already, I swear it’s not totally out of date after Monday’s game.