Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Sabres are coming off a great Easter weekend, as they completed a series sweep of the Philadelphia Flyers. This comes as the team looks to finish off the 2021-22 season on a high note.
With four games remaining in the year, it is a good time for many fans to get a chance to watch 2021 first overall pick of the Sabres, Owen Power. The 19-year-old defenseman has already appeared in four games with Buffalo since completing his collegiate season at the University of Michigan, where he's registered an assist and averaged 22:02 of ice-time.
Although it's been a small sample size at the NHL level for Power, Sabres head coach Don Granato has been extremely impressed with the 6-foot-6 and 214-pound defenseman.
“Owen Power has been awesome,” said Granato on Tuesday during his weekly appearance on the "Howard and Jeremy Show" on WGR. "Guys are fighting over him to be their [defensive] partner, and the forwards want to be on the ice when he’s out there.”
With the sample size for Power being so limited through four games, not many teams have been able to look into how to attack the young defenseman. While he's been beaten once or twice on the blue line, he has remained calm and confident in his play.
“There’s not much else to his game that you’ll beat him twice, and what I mean by that is the best players don’t get fooled twice,” Granato said with Jeremy White and "Sneaky Joe" DiBiase.
After a slow start to the 2021-22 season, the Sabres really started to pick up steam with their play as the calendar turned to March. Despite the team officially missing an NHL record 11th-straight postseason, there is optimism heading into the future with the way the group has performed.
Granato sees that optimism in his players too, who now only have four games remaining in the regular season before heading into the offseason.
“We don’t want this season to end," Granato said. "We want more out of this season. They're hungry.”
You can listen to Granato’s entire interview during the “Howard and Jeremy Show” below:
