Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – As the Buffalo Sabres played the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, I never got the sense they lost confidence in their ability to win.
Buffalo built a 4-1 lead after two periods and held Ottawa to very few scoring opportunities.
Sabres head coach Don Granato said they did a much better job of taking the middle away, blocking 27 shots. Ryan Johnson had six of them, and I thought played very well.
The Sabres came out fast, and while they didn’t score on a power play, Mark Kastelic was only two steps out of the penalty box when Dylan Cozens made a great move into the zone and fed JJ Peterka for his first goal in 13 games.
Vladimir Tarasenko took advantage of a screen in front to tie the game at 1-1, but just 11:56 in, Anton Forsberg suffered a groin injury and had to leave the game.
Tage Thompson welcomed Joonas Korpisalo to the game by ripping the first two shots past him to give Buffalo a 3-1 lead. The second goal was on the power play.
Thompson didn’t play well on Tuesday against the Seattle Kraken, and Granato said they spoke a couple of times after the game. He knew Thompson was determined to do better. In his last nine games Thompson has seven goals and 12 points.
While Thompson didn’t finish Thursday's game, Granato didn’t think it was serious.
I thought the Sabres did an excellent job of killing three penalties in the second period, and got Peyton Krebs on the board for the first time in 13 games when he and Eric Robinson executed a pretty play off a 2-on-1.
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Buffalo didn’t play sloppy until a few sloppy plays in the third led to two Claude Giroux goals.
A Cozens turnover led to the second goal, but he made up for it when Korpisalo was pulled for the extra attacker. Cozens won battles to get the puck out of his own zone, made a good move to get in on goal and score the empty netter.
That was Cozens' first goal in nine games, and just his third goal in 23 games.
You could make the argument that the Cozens line has been Buffalo's best line for a while now, and they finally got rewarded on Thursday.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has won his last three games, and has earned points in his last four. Buffalo has now won three-out-of-four games, and four-out-of-six.
In his last three games, Luukkonen has a 1.99 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage.
The out of town scoreboard didn’t fall Buffalo’s way, so they’re still seven points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. However, they have caught the Montreal Canadiens and now have five teams to leap over to get there.
The Vancouver Canucks got an overtime win in Pittsburgh on Thursday, and are on their way to Buffalo with the second-best points percentage in the NHL at .702. That’s pending the Boston Bruins' game in Vegas on Thursday against the Golden Knights.
The Canucks have won four-straight games and are 4-1-0 on their seven-game road trip.
Faceoff between the Sabres and Canucks on Saturday afternoon is set for 4 p.m. EST, with pregame coverage on WGR with Brian Koziol set for 3 p.m. EST.
