Buffalo N.Y. (WGR 550) - After this past Wednesday's huge performance from Tage Thompson in a 9-4 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, tying a franchise record five goals and adding an assist, the Buffalo Sabres center was named the NHL’s "Second Star of the Week."
Despite only registering another assist in Buffalo's home-and-home series loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the 25-year-old still finished the three games this past week with seven points.
This past week's performance from Thompson has not gone unnoticed to Sabres head coach Don Granato. He joined the "Howard and Jeremy Show" on Tuesday for his weekly appearance on WGR, and feels the attention that Thompson is demanding will eventually help open up opportunities for other players on the ice, especially on the power play.
"Teams know they have to respect players that we have now," said Granato with Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase. "Thompson on the power play, they are flanking out with him to cover him tight. The first power play in Pittsburgh the other night, the adjustment we made was to just have Dahlin walk right down the middle and he did, and he hit the goal post 12, 13 seconds into that first power play. So a lot like [Alex] Ovechkin treatment the other night, and I would suspect teams will do that when you're shooting the puck 100 miles an hour, they'll start favoring Thompson, and that's going to open up [Rasmus] Dahlin, [Dylan] Cozens, [Alex] Tuch and [Jeff] Skinner, and we know they're very, very talented. So we'll be able to exploit something different when that happens. Not if, it's going to happen. So when it happens, we have to make that adjustment."
Towards the end of Buffalo's loss to the Penguins on Friday in Downtown Buffalo, Sabres forward Jeff Skinner cross-checked Pittsburgh winger Jake Guentzel in the face, which resulted in a three-game suspension from the NHL on Saturday.
Granato knows his team is not happy to be without one of its top weapons on offense, but they have to move on. With the suspension to Skinner, though, it allows for a chance for someone else in the lineup to step up on the top line. Granato decided to give that opportunity to forward Casey Mittelstadt, as he is stationed on the left wing with Thompson and Alex Tuch.
"Those players, Thompson and Tuch, want to play with him," Granato said. "There's a lot of respect amongst talented players in our group that see Casey, as well, that he can make plays and he can think and process at a really high level."
The Sabres have also had plenty of success recently with the "fun line" of Dylan Cozens, JJ Peterka and Jack Quinn. That line has been a pleasant line of production to perfectly compliment the high-flying Thompson line.
As Granato explained on Tuesday, it was a combination he wanted to put together as soon as this past summer.
"We really wanted to wait before we put them together," he said. "I mean, that was something in the summer that I had on my notepad that I wanted to see those three together, but I didn't feel we should do that at the start of the year. As we know, Quinn was really struggling at the start of the year. I had to field a lot of questions, 'Why isn't he in Rochester? He should go back to Rochester.' We had to calm things down, he's going to be fine. When he started to hit stride, JJ started to hit stride. My excitement, I couldn't hold back, because that's the threesome that we've been talking about a lot, Kevyn and I, that we felt could develop chemistry and be a real good future for us if we do it. So the future is now watching those three. They have been really impressive and dynamic."
Hear more of Granato’s appearance during the “Howard and Jeremy Show” available in the player below:
Losi and Gangi
