Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – After the Buffalo Sabres lost 9-4 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, chants of “Fire Donny” were coming from the stands for the first time all year.
If you went anywhere near Twitter, most of the fans were calling for his head.
After Buffalo scored nine of their own on Thursday to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 9-3, defenseman Rasmus Dahlin was angry in the room. He was mad, because he thought Granato took a lot of unfair shots after Tuesday's game.
"We really wanted to back 'Donny'. That was the main focus today," said Dahlin following Thursday's win. "He got way too much heat the other game. He didn’t deserve it. It was us that didn’t play good, not him.
"I heard guys screaming from the stands to fire him, and that’s crazy to me. That was a wakeup call for us. We have to play this way every game."
Sabres captain Kyle Okposo says they’ve allowed some of the outside noise into the room, and that has to stop. He also felt it was important to stand up for the head coach.
"Anytime you hear something like that from the home fans, it’s a reflection on us and how we play," said Okposo following Thursday's win. "We’re a very tight-knit group in here, and when somebody that’s in our locker room every day that we truly care about is having that thrown at them, that’s not a good feeling for us. We wanted to do more than just say we had his back. We wanted to go out there and prove it, and I think we did a pretty good job of that tonight."
Jeff Skinner feels like this team is family, and says they’ll always be there for Granato.
"We definitely have his back, because he’s our coach and leader," said Skinner on Thursday. "It’s up to us to execute, and in the last little while, we haven’t been executing well enough. But we’re family in here, and we definitely have his back."
When Granato heard how his players felt about it, he was emotional.
"Nothing better as a coach than to have your guys believe in you," said Granato following the win. "It means everything as a coach, because you have to push these guys, and some players don’t know how much you care about them because you have to push them. To me, personally, it’s a great feeling."
Some of you were seeing a completely different game than I did. Many were commenting about how poorly the Sabres were playing defensively, and I couldn’t disagree more.
Buffalo limited Toronto to 15 shots through two periods. Yes, they gave up three goals, but Devon Levi should’ve had the first two, as they weren’t bad plays or mistakes that led to those goals.
Auston Matthews leads the NHL with 26 goals, and he got one shot all night. It was from the right wing boards, as he spun around and caught Levi napping, beating him through the pads.
If you hold Matthews to one shot, I think you’re playing excellent defense.
The Sabres also turned the defense into pace and speed up ice. Granato talked about getting back to what they did last year, using pace and compete. That’s exactly what happened.
Skinner had two goals and an assist, while Tage Thompson had a goal and two assists and Alex Tuch had four assists playing with each other on Thursday.
Okposo also added two goals, including a shorthanded goal in the second period.
Owen Power was paired with Connor Clifton, and they were terrific.
Clifton had two assists in 19:44 of work, giving him eight assists in his last eight games.
Power had been struggling lately, but his goal in the first period tied the game at 2-2. He played 23:29, and both defensemen were a plus-5.
Buffalo had three goals in all three periods. They netted five on 19 shots on starting goalie Ilya Samsonov in 21:03 of work. Martin Jones played 24:33 and allowed four goals on 15 shots faced.
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All the win allowed the Sabres to do is to keep up in the Eastern Conference. They’re still seven points out of the eighth and final playoff spot.
Buffalo returns to Madison Square Garden on Saturday to play the New York Rangers before the Christmas break. Back in November, the Sabres beat New York there, 5-1.
