(WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres came home with five out of six points from their three-game road trip. After wins against the Winnipeg Jets and Minnesota Wild, the Sabres skated into Pittsburgh obviously tired, playing three games in three cities in four nights.
Buffalo spotted the Pittsburgh Penguins two goals, but were able to comeback when Zemgus Girgensons scored into an empty net off a rebound and in the third period, Rasmus Dahlin made a terrific read to jump down the slot. Rasmus Asplund was in the corner and found him perfectly, giving Dahlin three goals on the trip.
Buffalo likes to hang their goalies out to dry in Pittsburgh. In the first game here, Dustin Tokarski faced 46 shots, but still won 2-1. Malcolm Subban lost 3-2 in overtime, but he saw 48 shots.
Cody Eakin is put out for faceoffs in overtime so Buffalo can get possession. He usually does pretty well with it, but for some unknown reason, he thought it would be a good idea to go forward on Jeff Carter from the center ice dot. He whiffed on it and Carter took off with Kris Letang on a 2-on-1 and that ended the game.
Buffalo started overtime on a 4-on-3 power play, but the Sabres only got one really good scoring chance as Tristan Jarry made a huge save on a Dylan Cozens one-timer.
What I really want to talk about is the debut of Casey Fitzgerald. The 24-year-old had never played in the NHL until Friday and you didn’t hear much about him. He was down in Rochester playing very well with Mattias Samuelsson and he was called up with Will Butcher being sick and Robert Hagg injured. Fitzgerald really enjoyed the evening, “It was so fun, it was awesome.”
Fitzgerald’s dad Tom played 1097 games in the NHL and is now the general manager of the New Jersey Devils. Both his mom and dad were in attendance and they had to be proud of what they saw. Fitzgerald said, “It was great having them both out here. My dad’s pretty busy, but he wouldn’t have missed this for the world and it was very special.”
The kid was calm and smooth in his 16:42 of work and is the type of skater and player that will thrive under Granato who was his coach for two years with the U.S. National Under-17 team and Under-18 team.
Not only did the kid play well, but he also adds an element to the backend that was lost when Buffalo traded Rasmus Ristolainen and when the team left Will Borgen unprotected allowing him to be taken by the Seattle Kraken in the Expansion Draft.
Early in the second period, Sam Lafferty put a huge, perfectly legal hit on Vinnie Hinostroza sending him flying. In today’s NHL, players are required to fight after throwing a clean hit, but I won’t lie to you, I enjoyed seeing the kid show up and go toe-to-toe with Lafferty. His mom didn’t look like she enjoyed it, but it was still fun to see. He said, “I really didn’t like the hit, it was a little bit leg-on-leg and Vinnie’s a guy that would do the same for me.”
Later in the third, Fitzgerald made a perfect stretch pass out of the zone which helped the Sabres easily exit the defensive zone and enter the offensive zone. Buffalo got the puck in and it came back to Fitzgerald at the right point. His shot hit Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson and went right to Zemgus Girgensons who had an open net to score his sixth of the season.
Fitzgerald was in the starting lineup opposite Sidney Crosby. He said, “I was trying not to crack a smile because I grew up watching the Pens, they were my team growing up, so just having the opportunity to be up here is awesome and I’m so grateful for that and I just wanted to go out and play for the guys around me, so it was easy to amp my intensity there.”
Any player making his NHL debut is going to be nervous and Fitzgerald was no different, “There was a lot of adrenaline in the first period and I think I was a little bit jumpy, but after a few shifts I got to settle in there and play my game.”
The Sabres were supposed to have two days before starting another three games in four nights, but with Wednesday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche being postponed, it now becomes a Monday/Thursday home and home series against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Before the game, Granato announced that Anders Bjork and Will Butcher have a non-COVID illness. Both are being separated from the team and are testing every day.
