Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) - After Thursday night’s loss to the New York Rangers, the Buffalo Sabres worked on quick puck movement and getting pucks in-behind the defense.
The Rangers stymied Buffalo by playing a 1-3-1 defense, and the New York Islanders will do the same on Saturday. Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin says there are ways they can play better against it.
"Get the puck in deep," said Dahlin following practice on Friday. "We’ve got to come with speed more, because the neutral zone was a challenge yesterday. We’ve just got to keep it more simple, and we’ve got to play more North/South hockey.”
Every NHL team tries to score the first goal in every game, because the percentages are heavily in your favor that you’ll win. In order to beat a team like the Islanders, you must take them out of their structure. Dahlin says that’s what makes scoring first against the Islanders even more important.
"If they score the first goal, they are super comfortable. But if they need to get a goal, that is when they get vulnerable," he said. "We’ve got to stay patient, we need to keep everyone on the right side of the puck, and play a more mature game."
Now to the topic of 23 blocked shots-against on Thursday, eight of which coming from Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba. Dahlin feels the Sabres created their own problems.
"I think it’s puck movement and quick shots," Dahlin said. "Personally, I held onto the puck a little too long, so it’s quick puck movements, and we just need to sift it in there. We don’t have to wait for the perfect opportunity."
Not only are the blocked shots-against frustration, it gives the opponent momentum as it brings their bench alive.
Dahlin feels the Sabres did have good puck movement on the power play. Jeff Skinner hit the crossbar with an open net staring at him, and Tage Thompson missed the net on three good one-timer opportunities.
"I liked it. Good puck movement, and yes, we had some blocked shots, but we had great looks too," Dahlin said. "Now we have something really good to build on, and we need to keep pushing."
There were no changes in the lines or the defensive pairings during Friday’s practice. If you go by what we saw in practice, Devon Levi will be in goal on Saturday.
