The Buffalo Sabres are playing on a bit of a hot streak coming out of the NHL All-Star break.
Although the opening game since their return to action last Thursday was another late-game collapse and overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Sabres have followed that up with two solid wins, beating the Montreal Canadiens, 5-3, at the Bell Centre on Sunday and earning a 6-3 win over the New York Islanders on Tuesday.
Going back to Sunday's contest in Montreal, one of the major stories from that game was Jeff Skinner putting up a four-goal performance and accounting for a point on all five goals scored. However, it was the entire top line of Skinner, Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch that produced at a high level, generating a combined nine points.
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Then on Tuesday, it was Victor Olofsson who helped lift the Sabres past the Islanders at KeyBank Center in Downtown Buffalo. The veteran winger scored with less than three minutes remaining in regulation to give Buffalo a 4-3, and eventually scored an empty net goal moments later to seal the game.
The go-ahead goal for Olofsson on Tuesday was the first goal he has scored in 31 games played, with his last tally coming on Halloween against the Los Angeles Kings.
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Sabres head coach Don Granato is surely pleased to see his team's overall production coming out of the break, but it's his top line of Skinner-Thompson-Tuch that has impressed him the most.
“I didn’t have expectations on numbers, but I am certainly not surprised," Granato said on Tuesday during the "Howard and Jeremy Show" on WGR. "We knew [Skinner] was capable of scoring.
“They're all hungry, and they all want more. They're looking for something different and something more.”
You can listen to Granato's entire interview with Howard Simon and Jeremy White from Tuesday below:
