Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres hadn’t been able to handle the Pittsburgh Penguins this season. In the first two games, the Sabres blew a 3-1 lead and a 1-0 lead and lost.
However, Thursday saw Buffalo jump right out and take it to the Penguins early.
Tage Thompson led a 2-on-1, used Jiri Kulich as a decoy and netted his 36th goal of the season just 27 seconds into the game.
At the 4:42 mark of the first period, defenseman Connor Clifton entered the right circle and saw both Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs in the crease. He got the puck to Krebs, who steered home his seventh goal of the year.
Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry faced two shots and allowed two goals in 4:42. In October against Buffalo, he played 11:33 and gave up three goals on five shots before being pulled. In two games covering 16:15 this season against Buffalo, Jarry let in five goals on seven shots.
Jarry was, once again, pulled after 25:20 of work on Thursday. He got yanked in favor of Alex Nedeljkovic after Mattias Samuelson and Kulich scored goals 1:46 apart. Jarry made eight saves on 12 shots faced.
Things didn’t go any better for Nedeljkovic, though, as Kulich and Tyson Kozak greeted him with two goals in 28 seconds to make the score 6-1. Before the period ended, Tuch was allowed the walk free down the slot for his 28th goal of the season, and it was 7-1 after 40 minutes.
Buffalo has really improved their home record lately, going 10-2-0 in their last 12 and 13-4-0 in their last 17. Since Jan. 28, the Sabres’ points percentage of .833 at home is fifth in the NHL. They’re fifth in the NHL in goals for, averaging 4.08 goals per-game.
Since Dec. 27, the Sabres are 13-4-0 on home ice, which is sixth in the league at .765. In this timeframe, they’re second in goals with 3.88 goals per-game.
With Josh Norris, Jordan Greenway and Jason Zucker all out of the lineup on Thursday, young players are starting to get more comfortable.
Kulich came up earlier in the season from the Rochester Americans. In his last 34 games, he has 12 goals and seven assists for 19 points. The 12 goals equates to a 29-goal pace.
Kozak has two goals and two assists for four points in his last three games.
Isak Rosen made a slick pass in the second period on Samuelsson’s tally to pick up his first career point in 12 NHL games.
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Following the win, Thompson talked about how Rosen has done some of the little things during games that others don’t notice. Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff was focused on how impressed he was with the 22-year-old winger on Thursday.
“I think Rosen made two or three plays that we haven’t seen,” said Ruff following the win. “I thought he skated well, there was a lot to like about his game. When you get into the game more and a goal against isn’t going to be the end of the game for you, all of a sudden, you can feel a little bit better about your game.
“I look at the play he made with three or four minutes left on the wall where he spun around and got a great exit to our guy in the middle of the ice. That’s a play that says, to me, he’s committed to making the right play, and feels comfortable where that guy was on his back, and to protect it and get it to the right place.”
Sabres defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker played in his fourth-straight game on Thursday and, once again, was impressive in the way he defended.
Before he was traded to Buffalo as part of the Dylan Cozens trade, Bernard-Docker hadn’t played a game with the Ottawa Senators since Dec. 28 due to a high ankle sprain. When he was healthy enough to return to the lineup, he ended up being a healthy scratch.
The Senators’ 2018 first-round pick is making it hard for Ruff to take him out of the lineup.
“He showed he was hungry every shift,” Ruff acknowledged. “I really liked his game. I liked the fact he ate a couple of pucks for us, a couple of big blocks. A heck of a hit and a good hit before the fight. His intensity around the puck has been real good.
“He is hungry, he’s pushing guys to say, ‘I want to be part of this. I’ve got my opportunity and I want to prove that I can stay in the lineup.’”
With a points percentage of .465, the Sabres have gone past the Philadelphia Flyers for last place in the Eastern Conference. Overall, Buffalo is 27th, while the Flyers are 29th at .453.
The Penguins are just barely ahead of the Sabres in 26th with a points percentage of .466. The Boston Bruins are 25th at .473.
The Sabres head back on the road for two afternoon games over the weekend in Philadelphia and Washington. Then on Tuesday, they travel to Ottawa to play the Senators once again.