Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – When the Buffalo Sabres started shooting the puck in the third period against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday, they outscored them, 2-0, and outshot them, 18-8, in a 4-2 win.
With all the teams in the playoff race around them losing on Saturday, this was two points the Sabres needed to have. Head coach Don Granato says it works well for a reason.
“When you have a team in their defensive structure, they cover pass options, and when a puck goes to the net, they break coverage. So you force the opposition out of coverage,” said Granato on Monday.
Granato says it took his team 40 minutes to get to that pass mentality on Saturday night, because they thought it was going to be easy.
“We had five or six shots immediately in the game - one of them was a goal post, one of them went in the net from a bad angle, and then it looked like we felt the game was going to be easy. Our guys felt we’ve got one and one off the post, and we’re only four or five minutes in. Now we’re going to pass our way into the net and make it perfect,” Granato explained.
As Granato also explains, players try to pass through coverage when they haven’t established themselves.
“You don’t realize that seams open up after shots," he said. "You break the other team down, you force them out of coverage, and that’s when the seams open up for the pretty goal. But if you never open up the seam, you can try that seam all day long and they’re in coverage. There is no seam.”
Casey Mittelstadt scored a goal in Anaheim against the Ducks on Wednesday by faking like he was going to pass and then ripping the shot.
“We’re a young team with a lot of skill, and maybe sometimes we get a little too cute and try to make the extra play. I think that we have the speed that when we shoot, we can chase them down and get the puck back and that opens up plays," said Mittelstadt on Monday.
Coming out of break, the Sabres had a horrible game in a 7-2 loss to the Calgary Flames. Calgary put seven unanswered goals past goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and he had to sit a full week on that. However, the 23-year-old was able to rebound with a very good game in San Jose.
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Coming out of break, Granato wanted to get all three goalies into game action. He started with Craig Anderson playing in Los Angeles against the Kings on Monday, followed by Eric Comrie against Anaheim on Wednesday and then Luukkonen on Saturday. Granato says the team will now get back to its regular goalie rotation.
“I didn’t want to throw [Luukkonen] right back in [against the Kings] to give him a few more practices," he said. "When you have three, we wanted to get all three in right away. Now I think we’re back into rhythm, and 'Uppie' was really good the other day, looked much more like himself. So now our decisions will be totally different that we’re one week past break.”
Defenseman Kale Clague hurt his leg right at the end of practice on Monday and had to be helped to the room. Granato said Clague was still with the medical staff and wasn't able to get an update after practice.
Rasmus Dahlin and Henri Jokiharju were given maintenance days and didn’t practice with the team.
