Montreal, Quebec (WGR) - The Buffalo Sabres are in Montreal ahead of a Saturday matchup with the Canadiens - the second such meeting this week. Friday was an optional practice for the players after another come-from-behind win in Toronto the night before over the Maple Leafs.
The Sabres have come from two-goals down in the third period in four of their eight games so far this season, going 3-0-1.
Sabres forward Jack Quinn was an absolute force in this game, just imposing his will on the Maple Leafs all night long. He ended the evening with two goals and two assists, and even got in a fight with Maple Leafs defenseman Troy Stecher to complete the Gordie Howe hat-trick.
Quinn now has six points in his last three games.
The winger has mostly skated on a line this season with Noah Östlund and Zach Benson. Both Östlund and Benson had two assists against Toronto, and were plus-11 as a line.
Sabres defenseman Owen Power netted his second overtime goal of the season, and was set up on a beautiful pass from Quinn.
Quinn, Power and Tage Thompson are Buffalo's leading scorers with eight points in eight games.
About a week ago, head coach Lindy Ruff pulled Benson and Josh Doan into his office and told them they need to be first on battles and harder on battles, because that's their style of game. He also said they needed to stay in the battle longer.
Benson absolutely got the message, as since then, he's been a menace around the net and a bulldog along the walls. In this game, he stole the puck from Toronto defenseman Nick Blankenburg behind the net and calmly fed Quinn in front to tie the score at 1-1 in the opening period.
For Quinn's second goal, Benson took Stecher with him to the net and provided a great moving screen on Sergei Bobrovsky.
Then on Dennis Gilbert's goal, Benson planted himself in Morgan Rielly's lap in front of Bobrovsky, who never saw the shot.
One thing that seemed to go unnoticed was after Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews was left alone for a layup goal just 2:24 into the game, he was never a factor again. The Sabres took his ice away and never let him get going.
Not only is Power Buffalo's leading scorer, he's been fantastic in both the offensive and defensive zones. With captain Rasmus Dahlin still out injured, Power played 28:01.
"I feel good. There are a couple of us that are trying to fill what he does, and for me, it's fun when you're playing a lot of minutes. It's easy to get into the game it's been fun," said Power after the win.
Jiri Kulich was in the morning skate Thursday, but left early because he didn't feel well. With what happened to him last year, the team sent him back to Buffalo for further testing.
The good news is Ruff said the tests were negative.
Ruff told reporters Friday they're going to try to get Kulich back for Saturday's game.
Josh Norris went into concussion protocol after Thursday's win, but the good news was the Sabres tweeted out a picture of Norris at Friday's practice.
At 4-3-1 in the standings, Buffalo is three points behind the first place Ottawa Senators in the Atlantic Division.
