Despite the announced attendance being 8,467 fans on Thursday night at KeyBank Center, one thing's for sure: it certainly sounded like there were a lot more fans in attendance after the Buffalo Sabres wiped the floor with the Montreal Canadiens by a score of 5-1.
The Sabres opened the scoring early with a goal from Kyle Okposo, and they never looked back from there. Sabres goaltender Craig Anderson made only one mistake in the second period, but he still made 30 saves on 31 shots faced. In all, 10 different Sabres players found their names on the scoresheet.
After a long four months or so away, let's take a look at three observations from Thursday night's season-opening victory:
1.) What got in to Okposo?
No, the Sabres don't have a new No. 21 out on the ice.
That's the same Kyle Okposo who has worn the No. 21 since joining the team in the summer of 2016. Okposo entered his sixth season with the Sabres on Thursday and may have delivered his best performance while wearing the blue and gold.
Not only did he find the scoresheet, but Okposo also outperformed the Canadiens every time he stepped on the ice. He took five shots on the night and looked faster than he's looked since he went out with concussion issues at the end of the 2016-17 season.
If this is the Okposo we can expect night-in and night-out, the Sabres may be in slightly better shape moving forward than many thought.
2.) Anderson provides some stability in net
The Sabres have struggled at the goaltending position ever since Ryan Miller was traded to the St. Louis Blues. The starting position has mostly been a hot seat since then, with some players playing slightly longer than others, notably the most recent goaltender to leave the team, Linus Ullmark.
While we don't know that this is what we can expect in net on a nightly basis, we do know that Craig Anderson has great experience in holding a starter's position in the NHL, holding a career .913 save percentage at many stops, including the Colorado Avalanche, Ottawa Senators, Florida Panthers, and most recently the Washington Capitals.
Anderson stopped all but one shot from the Canadiens, as Chris Wideman slipped in behind the Sabres defense to tap one home to cut the Sabres' lead in half.
Anderson had to remain sharp in the second period and did so, making a pair of saves on a Canadiens power play early in the frame.
We'll see where head coach Don Granato goes with his goaltending decision on Saturday afternoon, but Anderson likely earned himself another start.
3.) Complete team victory gives fans in attendance reason to celebrate
10 different Sabres players can say they helped in Buffalo's dismantling of the Canadiens on Thursday.
Buffalo now has five players in a five-way tie for goals right now, with Okposo, Zemgus Girgensons, Victor Olofsson, Anders Bjork, and Tage Thompson each finding the back of the net.
Not only did the Sabres take care of business in their 5-on-5 play, they found the net three times on the man advantage.
The people in attendance at KeyBank Center were given a treat, and they made the most of making sure their voices could be heard. The building remained loud all night, and the Sabres were able to feed off that energy to victory.
We don't know what Buffalo's season will bring us yet, but a dominating victory over the Canadiens in Game 1 is certainly the type of performance we'd like to see more of from this young team.
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The Sabres will next host the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET at KeyBank Center. Pregame coverage on WGR will start at 12 p.m. ET with Brian Koziol. You can hear all the play-by-play action with Rick Jeanneret and Rob Ray on the radio home of the Sabres - WGR Sports Radio 550.
