Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – In front of a sellout crowd on Friday night in Downtown Buffalo, the Sabres played 40 minutes against the Pittsburgh Penguins and didn’t have a goal.
The Pens took advantage of Mattias Samuelsson and Rasmus Dahlin turnovers, and went into the second intermission with a two-goal lead.
Buffalo was making it easy on Alex Nedeljkovic, because there were, at least, seven great opportunities they missed the net on.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was having a great game in the Buffalo net, giving the Sabres a chance to win.
Peyton Krebs, Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons were the Sabres' best line right from the start. Krebs looked like his old self, using speed and creating chances for the line. The 22-year-old was also getting under the skin of Penguins players.
Back in October during the preseason, Krebs fought Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. In this regular season affair in late November, he went after veteran defenseman Kris Letang.
Sabres winger Alex Tuch joked following Friday's game that Krebs is shooting to be public enemy No. 1 in Pittsburgh.
After 40 minutes, the Sabres captain had enough.
Okposo told his teammates they were thinking too much. He felt they were playing on their heels, and his message was to attack like they did last season and stop worrying about making mistakes.
Pressure they did, and the Penguins caved.
First, it was Tuch finding Jeff Skinner in front of the net for a power play goal. It took Buffalo 45:13 to score, but once they did, they kept pushing.
After that, Okposo got his first of the season when Krebs went straight to the net, bringing Erik Karlsson with him. The puck went in off Karlsson, who wouldn’t have even been there had Krebs been passive.
The game-winner came from Skinner returning the favor, finding Tuch in front as he found a crease to plant himself in.
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Skinner had eight shots on goal in this game, and put two good chances over the net.
Okposo was very much involved, as well, with five shots on net.
It wasn’t just effort on goals, though.
When Pittsburgh finally pulled the goalie for an extra attacker, the Penguins had trouble penetrating the zone, because the Sabres were doing a terrific job of taking it away.
Inside the final minute of the game, Cozens did everything he could to beat Karlsson to a puck that would’ve been icing. Karlsson pulled him down, and the Sabres were awarded a power play.
Casey Mittelstadt and Victor Olofsson were also tenacious on the puck, interrupting the Penguins' attempts to break out and get into the Buffalo zone.
Jordan Greenway is nursing an injury and couldn’t play, so the Sabres decided to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. When Girgensons got hurt, they only had 10 forwards.
Sabres head coach Don Granato says they talked about bringing up a forward from the Rochester Americans before the game, but decided against it. He admitted after the game that with the injuries, a call up is likely coming.
By most accounts, Jiri Kulich has really improved his overall game, even in the first two months of the season. I think the time is overdue to find out.
Kulich has 11 goals in Rochester this season, which is fourth in the AHL. His 17 points are also 10th overall in the league. In addition, there is a center spot open with the injury to Tage Thompson.
JJ Peterka came up for two games in his rookie year, and didn’t play well at all. There was nothing wrong with that, because he went back to Rochester and knew what he had to work on.
Kulich wasn’t ready in training camp or the preseason, but he’s worked on his game. If it turns out like it did for Peterka, he will have had the experience, and will know what he needs to work on in Rochester.
Isak Rosen has eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points, which makes him the AHL's fifth-leading scorer.
Buffalo is in New Jersey on Saturday to play the Devils, as both teams are in a back-to-back situation. The Devils didn’t have to travel, but ended up losing to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.
Even though Luukkonen was really good on Friday, making 31 saves, I would expect Devon Levi to start in goal on Saturday, followed by Luukkonen again on Monday against the New York Rangers.
