Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – It was Tage Thompson’s line collecting nine points in a 5-3 win in Montreal over the Canadiens on Sunday.
Tuesday night saw Dylan Cozens and his group scoring two goals and registering five assists for seven points, leading the Sabres to their second-consecutive win, 6-3, over the New York Islanders.
Related
Cozens, Peyton Krebs and Victor Olofsson had problems their first game together against the Canadiens, but head coach Don Granato sees potential in those three performing as a line, and his faith in them paid off Tuesday.
The 21-year-old center came in to the game with just one point in his last six games, but he had three assists to lead the way.
Olofsson hadn’t scored a goal since Halloween, covering 30 games. However, he broke the longest drought of his career, taking a highlight reel pass from Krebs, and with no hesitation ripped home the game-winning goal with 2:55 left. The 26-year-old also added an empty netter to cap off the scoring.
Krebs had another assist, giving him three goals and four assists for seven points in his last eight games.
In this line, you have a shooter in Olofsson, a very good play-maker in Krebs, and a center in Cozens that is doing a good job driving the play.
The Sabres deserved this win thanks to their play. They generated 41 shots on goal, and got four past Ilya Sorokin to go with two empty-netters.
If you look at the goals Buffalo scored, they put a lot of work in to earn those goals.
Cozens and Tage Thompson were out killing a penalty, and all of a sudden went on the attack in the offensive zone. The two of them were relentless to get on top of pucks and to get pucks back. Thompson wouldn’t be denied along the wall, and found Cozens in the slot. He ripped a one-timer that Sorokin steered right to Thompson for his first-career shorthanded goal.
Zdeno Chara went to the penalty box with one minute left in the second period. As time was running out in the period, Thompson and Jeff Skinner went to work along with Krebs to keep the play going. Krebs is always looking for the pass, but when he got a pass from Rasmus Dahlin, he knew time was running out so he shot as fast as he could. Alex Tuch was in front of the net, and deflected the puck home with 0.6 seconds left.
Even on the Olofsson goal, Cozens kept possession of the puck to Krebs. He went deep into the corner, drawing the attention of the Islanders and threaded a perfect pass through traffic right into Olofsson’s wheelhouse.
It’s the kind of work that they put into this game that will give them more victories in close games.
The Sabres turned around another trend in the third period.
They had been playing well and took a 3-2 lead into the third period. Nine times this season, the Sabres have lost when bringing a lead into the final 20 minutes. It was trending that way when New York got the first seven shots of the period and hemmed the Sabres into their zone. It was just like we had seen so many times before. They were sitting back, trying to hold off the opponent instead of attacking.
Sure enough, the Islanders scored and the game was tied at 3-3.
In many of the games this season, the Islanders' goal would’ve sent the Sabres reeling and they would’ve lost. In this game, they turned it around, got their attacking game back and put the pressure on the Isles.
After giving up the first seven shots of the period, Buffalo outshot the Islanders, 12-4, the rest of the way and earned their victory.
----------
Cozens was fined by the NHL for a vicious cross-check to the back of Brock Nelson, sending him face-first towards to boards. The check was in retaliation to Nelson spearing him in the groin.
Granato saw, as we all did, what Nelson did to Cozens. The head coach wasn't upset at all that Cozens stuck up for himself.
"We saw what Dylan felt, and Dylan went back at him and challenged him right there on the spot," Granato said following Tuesday's win. "It's over with, and you move on. But Dylan is a competitive guy, and I love how competitive he is. He makes his presence known, and I like the way he plays, period."
Don't forget on Thursday to join Brian Koziol and myself for pregame coverage against the Ottawa Senators starting at 6 p.m. EST when we have our monthly visit with Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams.
