(WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres’ NHL group finished its preseason 3-0, and if you count the two wins played by minor leaguers, the Sabres are 5-0-0 so far in preseason.
The Sabres played inferior competition in the three games, but they can’t help that. They can only help how they play, and in almost every game, they played very hard.
In Friday’s exhibition game against EHC Red Bull München, the Sabres pressured the whole game, causing numerous turnovers in a 5-0 win in Germany.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen played 31:52, and stopped all eight shots he faced. Devon Levi then stepped in, and made seven saves in 28:08 to share the shutout.
In the preseason, Luukkonen went 2-0-0 with a 1.96 goals-against average and an .885 save percentage. Levi had a 0.68 goals-against average and went 1-0-0 with a .970 save percentage.
It was funny that the two big saves that Luukkonen had to make came from the stick of former Sabres forward Tobias Rieder.
Levi had one breakaway save after Connor Clifton turned over a bouncing puck.
JJ Peterka grew up about 10 minutes from where the game was played on Friday. He finally scored when Alex Tuch forced a turnover to Tage Thompson. Thompson then found Peterka all by himself in the right circle, and he beat goalie Simon Wolf for his fourth goal of the preseason.
Earlier in the game on a power play, Tuch found Peterka off the post and he shot wide of a wide-open net.
One thing I’ve been seeing from both the groups that have played in the preseason is they’re winning offensive zone battles, and they’re crowding the net. The first two goals on Friday were because of just that.
Sam Lafferty netted his second goal of the preseason when he tried to pass the puck, and saw it go off the leg of a defender and past starting goalie Mathias Niederberger.
When you have guys at the net, they bring defenders with them, upping the odds of a dirty goal.
Related
The second goal came when the puck went back to the left point for Henri Jokiharju, and his shot was hit by a high stick and went in. Tage Thompson didn’t have his goal waived off because there was no video replay available.
In three preseason games, Jokiharju had a goal and four assists for five points.
The Sabres produced a gorgeous second period tic-tac-toe goal when Dylan Cozens passed to Owen Power, who then passed to Zach Benson before finding Cozens for the open layup.
Cozens had three goals and four points in the preseason. Benson had four assists and five points, while Power had two goals and two assists for four points.
Jack Quinn scored his only goal of the preseason to go with three assists when Benson blocked a shot, which sent Quinn in alone on goal. He got in tight, and ripped the puck straight-up under the crossbar.
So Buffalo now has a full week to get ready to open the regular season in Prague on Friday against the New Jersey Devils.
The Sabres are scheduled to stay in Germany on Saturday and Sunday, and then head to Czechia after practice on Sunday.