Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - During Thursday night's home opener against the Los Angeles Kings, the Buffalo Sabres had everything go well in their game except goals and a good power play. They didn’t get the result that equaled their effort, losing 3-1.
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Just two nights later, the defensing Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers limped into town, and the Sabres got the same great game while still having a bad power play. The difference this time around, though, is they scored the goals and got rewarded with a 5-2 win.
Jordan Greenway was a monster in this game and easily was the first star. He was relentless in both ends of the ice and now I’ve sat and listened to two head coaches say how intelligent he plays on the ice. He’s a frequent target of media and fans because he’s big and doesn’t fight all the time, but nobody on this team causes more headaches for the opposition,
Greenway constantly produces turnovers which allows the Sabres to get great scoring chances. It was that work that helped the Sabres tie the game in the first period. Greenway was on the ice with Ryan McLeod and Peyton Krebs and Krebs went into the corner and outworked Nate Schmidt. Krebs found Greenway barreling to the net and he had his first goal of the season.
Lindy Ruff dressed seven defensemen and sat Sam Lafferty for this game. He said he wanted the physicality of Gilbert and he got it as in just 4:49 of play, Gilbert rocked the Panthers with hard hits accumulating three of them. But he played less than five minutes in this game. Lafferty is the player Ruff was talking about as he hits and is hard on the forecheck, so I wonder if him sitting out a game had more to do with two offensive zone penalties.
With only 11 forwards dressed, Krebs took advantage of it and if I was picking the three stars, he would’ve been No. 2. Krebs was fast, decisive, won battles and hard on pucks all night long. After the game, Ruff was very impressed with what he saw out of the 23-year-old. So was Tage Thompson,
“I love ‘Krebsy.’ He works his nuts off and is very deserving. I liked his confidence and he gets an opportunity to play and he’s not afraid to make plays.”
Spencer Knight was playing his first NHL game in goal since Feb. of 2023 and it looked like it. Just 41 seconds after Greenway scored, Thompson came through the right circle and beat Knight through his legs with a goal that he has to stop.
This was a game just like the Kings game, Buffalo was fast, hard on pucks, was right on the opponent at every turn, but in this game they were at the net constantly.
Second period unscreened shots from the left point by Henri Jokiharju and Mattias Samuelsson gave the Sabres a comfortable 4-1 lead, but they didn’t play like they were comfortable.
Buffalo came into the third period with a two goal lead and only gave up four shots. It was a clinic on how to work hard and protect the lead without sitting back.
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Buffalo has another player who when he’s on, is excellent at getting into passing lanes to produce turnovers. Alex Tuch did just that, knocking down a pass and going down to score in the empty net. Tuch is 17th in league scoring with two goals and two assists for four points.
Devon Levi has started two games this season and has played well in both. He has a very healthy .919 save percentage.
Jack Quinn got the message from Ruff. Quinn is an elite shooter, yet coming into the game he had just one shot on the season. Eight minutes into the game, he had three shot attempts. On the game the winger had three shots on goal and seven shot attempts.
The win helped the Sabres get back into the mix as all eight teams in the Atlantic Division have four or two points.
Buffalo gets back to practice on Monday and is in Pittsburgh to play the Penguins on Wednesday.