Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres are a hard team to figure out.
They had their best game of the season when they dominated the Edmonton Oilers on Monday. Then on Wednesday, they played the worst team in the NHL and got totally outworked and dominated by the Flames in, what was probably, their worst game of the season.
Facing a Chicago Blackhawks team on Friday that came in 5-1-1 in their last seven, Buffalo blew them right out the back door of the arena in a 9-3 victory.
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said after the morning skate that his team just didn’t work hard, and didn’t battle on Wednesday against Calgary, but he got exactly what he asked for on Friday. Everybody was hard on pucks, was getting to the battle first and not only getting there, but winning it.
Every team in the NHL has bad games, but it's how you respond. In this particular case, that bad loss didn’t turn into one win in nine games or 0-3-10 for the Sabres. It was put to bed after one game.
Buffalo is also 8-0-1 in their last nine games against the Blackhawks.
Just like the Oilers game, where Colten Ellis stopped Zach Hyman right in front just five seconds into the game, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made a huge save on Colton Dach, who got behind the defense while it was still 0-0. If Dach scores 1:04 into the game, does that change how this one goes?
The Sabres started tilting the ice towards the Chicago end, and at the 13:57 mark, the barrage began.
Josh Doan has been a good winger for Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch, and it was Doan who, of course, was right on the edge of the crease, scoring off of Arvid Soderblom’s pad.
Jason Zucker was extremely sick, but made his return and made a difference right away. Just 1:22 after Doan scored, Jack Quinn found Zucker alone in front.
Tuch has been struggling mightily in recent games, but said he felt more like himself, and his first of four assists found Bo Byram for a power play layup, making it three goals in 3:36.
The Sabres never stopped working, and goals eight seconds apart by Ryan McLeod and Mattias Samuelsson made it 5-1 just 25:50 into the game.
Samuelsson now has a four-game point streak, picking up three goals and two assists for five points. Only four defensemen in the NHL have more goals than him at five.
Normally, this would’ve been the point where Soderblom would’ve been pulled. However, Spencer Knight played Thursday, and Soderblom had to take the bullet for the team.
Ruff said Buffalo took advantage of a tired team playing the night before, saying the Hawks were a step behind from the start. I’m not buying it, because they had Calgary in the same spot and the third-worst team in the NHL, the St. Louis Blues, in the same spot and lost by a combined score of 9-2.
Doan had a pair of goals, and a fan pointed out that Doan has seven goals and seven assists for 14 points, while JJ Peterka has eight goals and seven assists for 15 points with the Utah Mammoth.
Every skater on the Sabres had, at least, one point except for Noah Ostlund, Owen Power, Peyton Krebs and Tyson Kozak.
Zucker had a goal and two assists.
The Sabres may get Zach Benson back on Sunday, and could be getting Josh Norris back in any of the games coming up.
With Thompson, Tuch and Doan playing so well and with Thompson wanting to play center, I’m very curious how this will go.
Will Thompson go back to the right wing with Norris and Benson, or will Ruff keep Doan with Tuch and Thompson and find a right winger to play with Norris and Benson?
With two assists in this game, Dahlin now has seven assists in the four games since coming back from Sweden. The captain has 15 assists, which is fifth amongst NHL defensemen.
Luukkonen was solid in this game and would probably want Chicago’s second goal back. I don’t know if it’s enough to get the start Sunday afternoon against the Carolina Hurricanes, or if Ruff turns back to Ellis to see how he reacts to his first and only bad start on Wednesday against the Flames.
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