Down two goals to the New York Islanders, the Buffalo Sabres must feel invincible, at this point.
All season long, the Sabres struggled to get going against this Islanders team that wears teams down defensively. On Tuesday night, the Sabres battled back for the second-straight night against the same Islanders group.
Sabres forward Anders Bjork saved the day for Buffalo with goals in the second and third period, while goaltender Michael Houser added another chapter to his fairy tale story.
Let's take a look at three observations from Tuesday night's game:
1.) Bjork makes the most of his promotion to the Reinhart line
Toward the end of Monday night's game, Sabres interim head coach Don Granato tinkered around with his lines, benching Jeff Skinner, save for a couple shifts, but, for the most part, rolling three consistent lines that were performing well.
Bjork was the biggest benefactor of this decision. He ended up on a line with forwards Sam Reinhart and Victor Olofsson.
Reinhart is on a bit of a hot streak of his own, scoring 13 goals and 19 points across 19 games since being shifted to center.
Bjork must have fed off of that energy, because Bjork's two goals brought the Sabres back to life and gave them the opportunity to win.
Late in the second period, the Sabres were pressuring the Islanders in their zone. As Islanders forward Brock Nelson tried to carry the puck out of the zone, Bjork took the puck away from him at the blue line and kept the play alive. After some cycling, the puck found its way back to defenseman Colin Miller, who fired a shot that deflected off Bjork and behind Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin.
Bjork wasn't finished yet.
He'd add another tally in the third period to get things tied up at 3-3. Bjork made another key play at the Islanders blue line to keep play in their zone, preventing Islanders defenseman Andy Greene from exiting the zone. He played the puck deep to Victor Olofsson, and then got himself back into position. Olofsson found him open in front, and all Bjork had to do was pick his spot - short side on Sorokin.
Bjork would add another score in the shootout to complete the second comeback in a row for the Sabres over the Islanders.
Bjork has scored three goals and six points since being traded to Buffalo.
2.) Houser adds another chapter to his already great story
The Sabres struggled mightily in games they played without de facto starting goaltender Linus Ullmark.
If you'll remember, Ullmark was absent during the Sabres' 18-game winless streak. They didn't win a single game in which he did not play during that streak, and it took him getting back in the net for the Sabres to break that streak.
Since that time, the Sabres have won games with the likes of Dustin Tokarski, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and now Houser.
Houser is a relative unknown. He's made his career mostly in the ECHL, with his last AHL action coming in the 2017-18 season. Prior to Monday night, he hadn't played in a professional hockey game in over 13 months.
The 28-year-old delivered, yet, another quality performance on Tuesday night for the Sabres, stopping 45 of 48 Islanders shots. He also added a trio of saves on all three Islanders shootout attempts.
Houser remains the only fully healthy goaltender on the Sabres roster at the moment. Linus Ullmark has been back to practice for the Sabres, but it is unclear if he will be ready to play in either of the Sabres final two games.
3.) Sabres finish home slate of games at 8-16-4
The Sabres struggled playing at home this season.
They struggled playing away from home too, but with Tuesday night being Buffalo's last home game, it seemed appropriate to wrap up our observations with their home record in the 2020-21 season.
Winning just eight games at home isn't going to give any team an advantage in making the playoffs. Buffalo has been equally bad, as far as their record is concerned on the road, but they still have a couple of games to get through in Pittsburgh before things are set in the NHL standings.
In a season played mostly without fans, the line between home games and away games is fairly blurry.
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Just two games remain for the Sabres in the 2020-21 season, and they'll have to head to PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh to play the Penguins. They'll get the first one out of the way on Thursday night.
We'll start things off at 6 p.m. ET with the Paul William Beltz Pregame show hosted by Mike Schopp and the Bulldog. Opening faceoff is scheduled to take place just after 7 p.m. ET on the official flagship station of the Sabres - WGR Sports Radio 550.