Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres were called out by their head coach on Saturday after losing to the St. Louis Blues. Don Granato didn’t think they competed hard enough, and didn’t like that they played much of the game on the perimeter.
That all changed on Tuesday, as they competed hard from start-to-finish and whipped the Los Angeles Kings, 7-0.
Buffalo fell behind the Kings in Los Angeles back on Jan. 24, 3-1, but after that scored 11 unanswered goals between the two games played.
You don’t have to be a hockey expert to figure out why they dominated on Tuesday. They played hard, they were hard on battles that caused turnovers, they played for each other, which included sacrificing the body, and they got bodies and pucks to the net.
It also didn’t matter who was in goal for the Kings. Starter David Rittich played 40 minutes and made 12 saves on 17 shots faced, then Cam Talbot played 20 minutes and made five saves on seven shots faced.
The other thing that helped the Sabres is they scored the first goal on Tuesday.
It was JJ Peterka staying with the play and converting his own rebound at 4:25 of the opening frame.
Hard work gave Buffalo a 3-0 first period lead, which included a power play goal that was tipped in by Kyle Okposo for his 11th of the season.
Zach Benson went to the net, and was able to convert for his first goal in 20 games.
Jordan Greenway was dominant in this game, scoring two goals and an assist in 18:31 of work. He had three shots and was plus-4 on the game.
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I have to admit: I was wrong near the end of last season when I said it’s time for the Sabres to part ways with goaltending coach Mike Bales.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 33 saves to record his fourth shutout of the season. That ranks him fourth in the NHL. Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry leads the NHL with six shutouts.
Luukkonen has a goals-against average of 2.51 this season, and his save percentage is now .913. As I see the improvement in Luukkonen, I think Bales has done a terrific job of bringing him to the next level and helping become a No. 1 goalie.
Since Dec. 30, Luukkonen is 7-5-0 with a 1.60 goals-against average and a .941 save percentage, which is second in the league.
One thing I haven’t been wrong on is when the Sabres play the way Granato wants them to play, they’re a good team and usually win games. Tuesday was fun for fans, but at the same time, it has to be frustratin, because they know their team can play like this, but rarely do it.
I think a few quotes from Greenway during his postgame comments sum it up well:
"We did a lot of good things tonight. We played at a great pace that they could not keep up with, and it paid off for us early. If we stick to that game and commit to it every night, we can beat some good teams.
“It can get frustrating. We've got to start somewhere, and we have to be happy and confident from what we did tonight. Now we need to expect this from us day-in and day-out."
There’s been a lot of speculation recently about what the Sabres might be doing with forward Casey Mittelstadt. General Manager Kevyn Adams joined "Schopp and the Bulldog" on Tuesday and says any rumors about him shopping Mittelstadt is 100% false.
"I’m not surprised that his name’s out there because of where we are in the standings, and I know there have been some reports out there that we’re shopping him. That could not be further from the truth. That is just flat out not true," said Adams on WGR. "I know there’s blogs and all these different rumor sites, and I would say almost all of the stuff that you see is not true."
Even though Adams isn’t shopping Mittelstadt, he admits he is getting calls about him.
"Is Casey’s name coming up, or am I having conversations every day? For sure. My job is to listen. My job is to have conversations to know exactly what’s out there so we can improve our team. When it comes to our core players, I am not interested in moving guys out for future-type of deals. That’s how I’m approaching this deadline. But when it comes to Casey, in particular, I think he’s a really good player for us, and my expectation is that we’ll work towards a contract and get him signed. But I have to be willing to listen to everything."
Adams confirmed that Mittelstadt is two years away from unrestricted free agency.
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