Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres were finally able to earn a fourth-straight win on Tuesday night with a 3-2 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets. This win marks the first time since January of 2023 that Buffalo have put together a winning streak of more than three-straight games.
Prior to Tuesday's win over the Blue Jackets, though, the Sabres managed to pull out a victory over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday. The win was largely overshadowed, though, by a dirty hit on Sabres forward Tage Thompson by Devils winger Steven Noesen, and the response, or lack thereof, from the Buffalo players on the ice at the time.
Thompson left the game because of the hit, and Noesen was assessed a five-minute match penalty.
While the Sabres were able to then work on a five-minute power play, they proceeded to give up a shorthanded goal, and there was no physical response from anyone in the lineup following the hit on Buffalo's star forward.
After the win, a number of players spoke on the lack of response, including captain Rasmus Dahlin, who emphasized that such a response from the group cannot happen again in the future.
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In the couple of days that followed, the Sabres held a team meeting on Monday to further address what happened behind closed doors. Then at the start of Tuesday's contest with the Blue Jackets, the team attempted to showcase their response on the ice when defensemen Dennis Gilbert fought Columbus forward Mathieu Olivier just three seconds into the game.
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff knew a proper response from his group needed to come on their own accord.
"It's something that has to come from within. That when you become a great team, it comes out of you. It comes out of players," said Ruff on Wednesday when he joined the "Jeremy and Joe Show" for his weekly appearance on WGR. "If you look at early in the year when [Jason] Zucker, who is not a fighter, dropped his gloves and went at somebody, it comes out of you. It is about the group coming together. It has to come out of you. Some of those guys that play the role sometimes, it's only a role because they're carried along because of their teammates."
When it came to Dahlin's comments on the team's lack of response following Sunday's game, Ruff acknowledges that a situation like this is probably felt the hardest on the leaders of the locker room.
"That type of situation, and what he said, is true to the core. It just can't happen," Ruff said with Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase. "You can look at all types of scenarios where maybe a player didn't see the play, referees, or yelling, 'Accident! It was an accident.' Anything. There's all kinds of things I've heard through the years when something like that happens. You err on the side that you've gotta love your teammates, you can't judge what anybody else thinks. But you've got to react to that situation, and it can't happen."
The Sabres have struggled throughout the season to hold onto leads in the third period and close out games that should count as a win in the standings. However, over the last handful of games, particularly in the four-game winning streak, Buffalo has played nearly mistake-free hockey.
"The good teams don't give up high quality chances, they don't take penalties when you've got a couple-goal lead," Ruff said. "I think if you look at the third period, we gave up the one opportunity where they kind of went through the seam on the entry and got a 'B' scoring chance, which was their only really good chance in the third period. If you're asking your goalie only to make one or two saves and don't take any penalties, your odds of winning a hockey game go way up. I think we failed that test early in the year. I think we're starting to pass the test now."
The Sabres have one more game prior to the 4 Nations Face-Off starting on Feb. 12. That contest takes place Saturday when Buffalo travels to Nashville to take on the Predators at Bridgestone Arena.
Faceoff is slated for 8 p.m., with pregame coverage starting at 7 p.m. on the radio home of the Sabres - WGR Sports Radio 550.