Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Buffalo Sabres defenseman Ramus Dahlin is back from participating in his third-straight NHL All-Star Game.
This past weekend's festivities were held in Canada, as the Toronto Maple Leafs played host. Dahlin says he really enjoyed this trip to All-Star Weekend.
"This one was special," said Dahlin following Sunday's practice. "It was in Toronto, the hockey mecca, so the NHL did an unbelievable job. The fans were unbelievable, and it was just an overall unbelievable weekend."
Dahlin had family and friends come over from Sweden to see him participate, which he feels was great for him.
"Spending time with my family and friends, we just had a ton of fun," Dahlin said. "Then we saw [Justin] Bieber perform live, and I don’t think he had done it in a while. That was really cool."
Dahlin had previously played in the NHL All-Star Game with players from the Atlantic Division, but this time, it was a draft format, and he was selected by Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid. That means he got some time playing with some Western Conference players like McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Connor Hellebuyck, Robert Thomas and Tomas Hertl.
The 23-year-old loved the fact this year's All-Star Game was different.
"That was fun," Dahlin said. "It was really cool to be chatting with them, because you don’t hang around those guys very often. It was a nice setup with the draft."
Dahlin was mostly on the ice during the game with former Sabres teammate Sam Reinhart, now with the Florida Panthers, and Hertl from the San Jose Sharks.
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After chatting about the All-Star Game, attention was turned to the Sabres season, which picks back up Tuesday night against the Dallas Stars.
In their last 11 games, the Sabres are 7-4-0. In Buffalo's last 16 games, the team has gone 9-6-1. However, the Sabres are actually further behind in the playoff race, trailing both the Leafs and Detroit Red Wings by 10 points.
Since Dec. 30, the Sabres and the third-best team defensively in the NHL, and goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has posted some of the best numbers in the NHL, going 6-3-0 with a 1.57 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage. Only Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner has a better save percentage and goals-against in that time period.
Dahlin feels part of the reason for the recent success is the commitment to defense.
"We’ve focused on the details," Dahlin said. "In the beginning, we thought it was going to be like last year with a lot of swagger, a lot of offense, a lot of goals. But teams are playing different hockey against us, and taking away our really good players. We had to adjust to find our game for this year."
Dahlin knows it’s hard that they aren’t catching up, but they can only concentrate on one thing.
"Winning games is all you can do," he said. "You can’t think about how the other teams are doing. We just have to make sure that when we play those teams, we need those two points."
Sabres head coach Don Granato confirmed Monday that forward Zemgus Girgensons and defenseman Erik Johnson have been cleared to play and will return to action on Tuesday.
With defenseman Mattias Samuelsson now out for the season, rookie Ryan Johnson will get a chance for more ice-time. Granato says he’s earned everything he’s gotten.
"We need to fill those minutes, and it’s going to be more than just Ryan Johnson," said Granato on Monday. "But Ryan’s been consistent, and he’s been good. That’s why he’s stayed here.
"We had no plan for that before the season of him coming in. We just figured that he’s a rookie, and the assumption was he was going to need time in the American [Hockey] League. But he’s here, because of what he did. He’s played very consistent, he’s been reliable, because you know what you’re going to get when you put him on the ice. Ryan just needs to keep doing what he’s been doing, because it’s been very, very good."
Samuelsson was averaging 20:30 of ice-time per-game, which is third on the team behind Dahlin (25:02) and Owen Power (22:22). Johnson averages just 14:33 of time on ice per-game.
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MONDAY’S LINES:
Forwards:
Skinner – Thompson – Okposo
Benson – Cozens – Peterka
Greenway – Mittelstadt – Tuch
Robinson – Krebs – Olofsson – Girgensons
Defense:
Dahlin – Jokiharju
Power – Clifton - Bryson
R. Johnson – E. Johnson
PP1: Thompson – Cozens – Okposo – Skinner – Dahlin
PP2: Greenway – Mittelstadt – Peterka – Tuch – Power
