Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) - The Sabres rebounded on Saturday against a Los Angeles team that had come to town 4-0-2 in its last six games.
Buffalo had two terrible starts in a row in Philadelphia and Toronto, and you could see them being careful in the first period.
Rasmus Ristolainen said in the postgame show that he really got angry early in the second after Adrian Kempe jumped into the slot and nobody noticed. Before that happened, battles were lost and Ristolainen was on the ice and was very upset about it.
After that goal, you could see the Sabres start to play the game that gets them points. They were quick on both sides of the puck and got to battles early to win them. Ristolainen is making an effort to get into the offensive zone and help. In his last 12 games, No. 55 has two goals and seven assists for nine points.
He was able to tie the game when he read an opening coming in from the right point. He crossed over right in front of Jonathan Quick and found himself with the puck and an open net.
Jeff Skinner seemed much more engaged in this game and was ferocious on battles. He battled hard on this play too and deserved the assist he got.
If you give Marco Scandella the chance to wind up to the rafters, he has one of the hardest shots in the NHL. He did just that before the second period ended to give the Sabres the lead.
Jack Eichel returned after missing one game with an upper-body injury and he was an absolute force in the final 40 minutes. Eichel went hard the net coming from the left circle and couldn't push the puck past Quick. Sam Reinhart had most of the net open on the rebound, but the puck hit something on the way.
Eichel then had a gorgeous tip coming through that Quick stopped that, but the puck was laying there next to him. The referee blew the whistle just as Reinhart got there to put it in. They reviewed it, but the call of the quick whistle stood.
In the third period on a power play, Eichel one-timed one of the cross bar. He shot that so hard, I half expected the puck to break in half.
The Sabres had another crossbar by Victor Olofsson while Quick was pulled. Olofsson had already scored his 16th of the season while Quick was out of the net before that.
Olofsson has goals in four of his last five games, and has four goals and four assists for eight points in his six-game point streak. Eichel assisted on Olofsson's empty netter, giving him points in the last 18 games he's played, but the NHL, in its usual way, doesn't recognize the streak because Eichel missed the Flyers game due to injury.
Linus Ullmark made some great saves in this game, but none were better than the one he made as the second period ended. Anze Kopitar was left along in front of Ullmark and absolutely robbed him with the glove.
The two points Buffalo earned vaulted them from tied for fourth place in the Atlantic Division to second all by themselves. Now they wait for Montreal at Edmonton, Florida at Carolina, Detroit at Toronto and Tampa Bay at Washington.
