Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres, once again, took themselves out of contention before Christmas thanks to an eight-game losing streak, but since then, they’ve been 4-2-1 and on a goal-scoring binge.
In those seven games, Buffalo has averaged 4.71 goals per-game, which is second to the Seattle Kraken, who are averaging five goals per-game.
In this seven-game streak, Jeff Skinner is the NHL’s leading scorer with seven goals and six assists for 13 points. Next is Dylan Cozens with five goals and seven assists for 12 points. That’s tied for second in the league with Tage Thompson, Connor McDavid, Jason Robertson and Kirill Kaprizov.
Cozens' rookie wingers, Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka, have also started finding their way in the NHL, and have helped form a line to compliment Skinner, Thompson and Alex Tuch.
In Sunday’s 6-3 win over the San Jose Sharks, Thompson opened the scoring on the power play, Peterka tied the game at 2-2 just 16 seconds into the second period, Skinner gave Buffalo the lead for good, Quinn netted two goals to put it away, and Tuch scored the empty netter.
In his last eight games, Quinn has five goals and four assists for nine points and in his last seven, while Peterka has three goals and three assists for six points.
Cozens has done a terrific job of putting Quinn and Peterka at ease, and in the meantime, showing that he, indeed, is the No. 2 center on this team.
The Sharks had played Saturday in Ottawa and were using former Sabres goalie Aaron Dell in net.
After Thompson made it 1-0, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen gave up a goal from the slot and a power play goal from the left circle. I didn’t think he looked good on either goal, as he was down for some reason on one of them, allowing the shot to sail over his glove.
With the exception of the St. Louis Blues game back on Nov. 23, Luukkonen has really struggled. However, I think he started to look better in the final 40 minutes of Sunday’s game. He seemed to be moving better in the crease, and looked to have more confidence as he tracked pucks through traffic.
A huge weakness he has, that I talked about even last year, is he doesn’t fight hard enough to get position when there’s traffic around him.
The only goal he gave up in the final minutes was a backhanded rebound in close that got through him with half the players on the ice around him. He made 15 saves in the finals two periods, and it’s something that maybe he can build on in his next start.
Peyton Krebs has been centering Casey Mittelstadt and Victor Olofsson, and things weren’t going well. The trio was on the ice for the Sharks' first goal, and head coach Don Granato decided to put Tyson Jost on that line at center and moved Krebs with Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons.
Krebs has struggled all season, but I thought the third period might have been his best hockey of the season. Those three were in the offensive zone, working on every shift. All three were relentless on the forecheck, and Krebs was a big part of that. He was working to get pucks back, and to make sure San Jose didn’t exit the zone.
If Granato leaves Krebs at center, this may just help to get him going.
Another reason the Sabres had a better game is they played quite a bit of it 5-on-5. Buffalo only had to kill one penalty, and yes, it wound up in their net. But staying out of the penalty box was a huge focus, and it made their game much better.
It’s still a big problem that Mittelstadt and Olofsson hardly played, yet, they were on the ice for both of the Sharks' even strength goals.
Yes, Olofsson has 11 goals, but he only has two goals in his last 14 games. It’s nice he has a great shot and does score, but at this level, it’s hard to have a player that can score, but hurts you in other areas of the game.
Buffalo had Monday off and will leave for Columbus after Tuesday’s practice.
