BUFFALO — Preseason hockey is rarely going to be pretty hockey. The lineups are a mishmash of NHL, AHL, ECHL, and junior hockey players who have maybe developed chemistry over the first few days of training camp. So, with that in mind, let’s try to not overanalyze how the Sabres defeated the Flyers 2-1 on Tuesday night.
— Defenseman Henri Jokiharju had an adventurous first period. Twice he was caught wandering from his place on the right side of the ice all the way to the left to pinch off the opposing puck carrier. Each time he very quickly wound up in the same space as the left defenseman. Not ideal.
The first time it was Mattias Samuelsson he ran afoul of and left the middle of the ice wide open for what would’ve been a 2-on-0 for Philadelphia. Fortunately, Samuelsson and Jokiharju were able to prevent a pass from getting to the intended targets and kept Craig Anderson from a situation that would’ve been a very preseason type of occurrence.
The second time, they were not as lucky. Jokiharju skated from his right defense position at the Sabres offensive blue line to cut off Travis Konecny from carrying the puck into the neutral zone. Instead, Jokiharju and Owen Power, the left defenseman, collided and Konecny was off to the races with only Alex Tuch anywhere close to attempt to stop him. It didn’t work.
Jokiharju is guilty of this on occasion. Getting caught up in the moment and looking to stop puck regardless of where he is. It’s a noble thought, but it also throws everything out of whack in defensive coverage.
Fortunately, Jokiharju settled down after the first period but it’s always an eyebrow-rasier to see guys who are absolutely NHL players make such bizarre decisions.
Mistakes happen in literally every game and will from now until eternity, but what it takes to correct them in a preseason game with no outcome in the standings tells a lot about a player.
“I think a lot of mistakes are made by us not going hard, where we stood with the puck and surveying and then paralysis at times,” coach Don Granato said. “You just don’t have the feel early on and then when you do that and you’re stuck, you’re probably going to make a bad pass or put your teammate in a situation where they’re going to have to fight like hell. There’s no timing, we weren’t in sync, and you just have to fight through it.”
— This was Lawrence Pilut’s second straight preseason game, and he was paired with new guy Ilya Lyubushkin. This meant they were used a ton in penalty killing situations and while that’s not really something to take away from this game or how training camp is going to go the rest of the way, the fact Pilut is back with the Sabres organization means he gets a chance to pick up with a new regime where he left off under Jason Botterill and Ralph Krueger.
“It’s awesome (being back), the fans are amazing here as always, I think, in this hockey city we’re in,” Pilut said following the game. “I feel like there’s a big positive vibe with the team right now. Everybody’s competing hard and we’re playing well together. We just keep getting better and better every day, I feel. Everybody’s pushing each other and it’s a great thing right now.”
Pilut departed Buffalo after the 2019-2020 season when management was slow to offer him a new contract and Traktor Chelyabinsk in the KHL jumped in with a two-year deal. After 97 games in Russia scoring 39 points with two playoff appearances he’s back in the organization and in a large field of other defensemen trying to crack the NHL roster.
“It’s awesome, I mean, that’s what we live for—the compete,” he said. “We’re all here because we love to compete and we want to get better every day. It’s just awesome to see the guys working so hard all the time.”
— Linus Weissbach found himself on a line with Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner on Tuesday night which for a guy who hasn’t yet made his NHL debut makes for one hell of an audition.
He had a healthy amount of playing time (16:26) and had two shot attempts, one on goal. The points and goals weren’t there for that trio, and the advanced stats were average according to Natural Stat Trick, but Weissbach showed a lot of the patience and heads-up play he displayed during the Prospects Challenge weekend.
“Weissbach looked very comfortable with Thompson and Skinner and created a lot,” Granato said. “(He) showed skill, showed vision, and there was some chemistry between the three of them, so that was a real plus for Linus who played a really solid game.”
Weissbach was a four-year player at the University of Wisconsin where he played for Tony Granato, Don’s brother. Going from one Granato who had a long NHL career and moved to coaching to another who’s made his mark as a coach dosen’t really provide an advantage, but it certainly allows familiarity.
“I think both of them definitely have similarities,” Weissbach said. “I think both of them want to play a puck-pressure style of game, so I was kind of prepared for that in that sense. But overall, as people, they’re really good people to everyone and treat everyone with respect and they’re there to listen if you have questions so that’s the biggest thing for me.”
Snap observations
I didn’t get a good feel for how Power and Jokiharju vibed out there. The advanced numbers aren’t great but it’s one game. Considering it’s a rookie and a possible new partner I can give it a pass, but it bears watching if they stay together (which seems very possible).
Granato mentioned recently that you could basically guarantee that Thompson and Skinner will be together on a line once again this season, the only question is who winds up getting most of the spins with them. Seeing Weissbach play well with them is nice. It also points to how good Thompson and Skinner are that a new guy can hop on board and do well. Whether it’s Alex Tuch back there or Victor Olofsson or someone else, it bodes well regardless.
Brandon Biro and Lukas Rousek played very well together and having Tuch with them more than helped out. That twosome in Rochester could be fun. Biro has a lot of skill and should get more of a look at the NHL level at some point, but it’s a very crowded house.