Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - For Josh Norris, the Buffalo Sabres center was excited and couldn't sleep on Sunday as he got ready to return from injury on Monday against the Winnipeg Jets.
Norris had played opening night, but needed almost two months to get back on the ice.
The Winnipeg Jets limped into town without, arguably, the best goaltender in hockey, as Connor Hellebuyck is out 4-to-6 weeks following knee surgery.
It took Norris just 2:46 to pick up an assist on the power play. Later, he netted two goals, as the Sabres beat up the Jets, 5-1.
The Sabres aren’t a deep team, especially in their top-six. So when Norris went down on opening night, they had no answers.
This was a full 60-minute effort, backstopped by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. The Sabres goaltender seemed very much in control, as he wasn’t over playing rushes coming at him.
The only goal Luukkonen surrendered was tipped in by Kyle Connor, as nobody picked him up in front of the Buffalo net.
Coverage in the middle of the ice has been a huge issue with this team, but other than that one play, I thought the Sabres defended very well in this game.
In his last six appearances, Luukkonen is 3-3-0 with a 2.22 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage.
The Sabres killed plays, did a good job overall on coverages, and used speed to get out of the zone and up into transition. That was very evident on the breakaway goal for Norris in the third period.
Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin rimmed the puck from behind the net up the left wing wall to Zach Benson at center. He quickly steered the puck to a streaking Norris, and he was gone.
The other was Josh Doan quickly getting the puck up to Alex Tuch, who was flying down the right wing with Noah Ostlund coming fast up the middle. Tuch ended up scoring from a bad angle.
Former Sabres goalie Eric Comrie had very little help, as he was pulled after the first period, giving up three goals on 14 shots. He would want Bo Byram’s goal from the left circle back that made it 2-0 just 15 seconds after Jason Zucker's power play goal.
If you’re an optimistic person and want to think the glass is half full, the Sabres have won two in-a-row, 4-of-6, and 6-of-9 games. If you’re a pessimistic person and want to think the glass is half empty, Buffalo has just seven wins in 18 games.
All this means is Buffalo heads out on a six-game road trip tied for the basement in the Eastern Conference with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Both have a points percentage of .500.
If you’re looking at points, the Sabres are three points behind the Montreal Canadiens for third place in the Atlantic Division, but the Habs have two games in-hand. Buffalo is five points out of both Wild Card positions in the Eastern Conference. Both the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins hold one game in-hand.
Only Montreal is in action on Tuesday, hosting the Ottawa Senators.
Buffalo will start their road trip on Wednesday in Philadelphia against the Flyers.
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