2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Mike Harrington)
Sports Columnist {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. The thing to enjoy about the Buffalo Sabres is they're learning, taking away lessons from both victories and defeats. It felt that they never learned a thing last season and that was maddening to watch.
Over and over, it was the same pattern of poor starts, brutal defensive mistakes and bad special teams. Seriously now, what could be more ridiculous than going all the way until the end of February before putting together a measly three-game winning streak? Top teams do that a couple of times a month, but the Sabres were never able to piece their game together enough to do it with any regularity. Buffalo Sabres left wing Beck Malenstyn (29) dives to block a shot during the first period against the Detroit Red Wings at KeyBank Center on Saturday, Oct.
26, 2024. It seemed like this season started much the same way. Think back to that Oct.
16 game in Pittsburgh. The night began as if the Sabres were going to run the Pens out of the building, as they scored on their first two shots and three of the first five against embattled goalie Tristan Jarry. But their game got loose at both end of the ice, never a good thing against the likes of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
The Sabres’ current three-game win streak matched their longest of 2023-24, which they were unable to do until their 58th game on Feb. 25, and features several examples that support the players’ comments that this team is different from the one that finished with 84 points in April. A pair of two-goal leads went away.
Then the Sabres scored twice in a 40-second span to take a 5-4 lead. Then they got burned in a 6-on-5 situation, giving up a tying goal with 46 seconds left in regulation and losing in overtime on a Crosby power-play goal. From a regulation win to an overtime loss is a three-point swing, exactly the kind of stuff that damaged their playoff hopes the last two seasons.
Saturday in KeyBank Center, it felt like much the same thing. The Sabres were boatracing the Detroit Red Wings, collecting 13 of the first 15 shots and grabbing a pair of two-goal leads. Same scenario.
But by late in the second period, the game was tied after a grievous Rasmus Dahlin turnover led to a short-handed goal by Lucas Raymond and a 3-3 score. Bowen Byram's goal late in the second put Buffalo back ahead and the Sabres locked things down in the third, allowing only four shots on goal. They've been practicing 5-on-6 defensive situations a lot too and made some progress with a couple clears and better positioning.
South Buffalo's Patrick Kane – mostly invisible for Detroit all afternoon – hit a post and Jack Quinn took the puck and fired it into the empty net with 47 seconds left to seal the 5-3 win. But even Kane was bothered by JJ Peterka and it's not like he had a wide-open chance. The Sabres outshot Detroit, 39-25, and the Hockey Gods made sure the right team won.
There would have really been no justice had Kane scored there and got the game to overtime, where anything could have happened. Welcome to Ice Time, a new hockey podcast from The Buffalo News. Buffalo News hockey reporters Mike Harrington and Lance Lysowski take a look at the week ahead for the Buffalo Sabres and take a look at whether the Sabres are better off this year, what still needs to change, how the top players are adjusting to Lindy Ruff's preferred style of play and which players have stood out so far this season.
Please consider subscribing to the news Ice Time podcast and look for us weekly on buffalonews.com. "There's a different belief that that we deserve to win these games too, and I think we've shown that a little bit," said veteran winger Jason Zucker, whose first goal as a Sabre snapped the club's atrocious 0-for-22 run on the power play.
"I think we had some learning curves to start, and I think there's still more. But overall, I think this was a huge win. We'll take it and learn from our mistakes and move on.
" The Sabres do more little things now. During the 6-on-5 situation over the final two minutes, Alex Tuch and Dylan Cozens both got the puck out of the defensive zone. Jordan Greenway was his usual influential self in the defensive end and Peterka was bothersome to Kane just enough to help influence the miss.
And at the end of the first period, with Detroit pressing for a spell, forward Beck Malenstyn sold out to block a point shot in to the final seconds to get the Sabres to the dressing room with their 2-1 lead intact. Another key play that doesn't go unnoticed. "From talking to some of the guys last year, those plays were missing," Zucker said.
"And now guys are making those plays and we're getting rewarded for making them." "It tells you how much as a group we want to win hockey game. It sends a message right down the bench," said coach Lindy Ruff.
"And I think what I really like is every guy on that bench is up letting (Malenstyn) know, 'What a move to go down and make sure that puck didn't get to our goaltender." There's only been a few coaching rehires in recent NHL history and Florida's Paul Maurice went through the scenario in Carolina, so he is uniquely qualified to offer perspective on Lindy Ruff's return to the Sabres. The Sabres scored just one goal in each of the first three games and now have at least four in six straight games.
Tage Thompson again looks like a superstar. Rasmus Dahlin is still a thrill a minute, good and bad, but he's getting healthier and that's important. After starting 0-3 and 1-4-1, it hasn't taken months for the Sabres to find their game.
At 4-4-1, they left the ice Saturday in second place in the Atlantic Division pending the night's results, and with the division-leading Florida Panthers here Monday. "We've learned kind of the hard way that these games in the beginning of the season, even thought it's a long season, they add up," Thompson said. "You miss the playoffs by a point and that eats at you.
" "You can talk about deserving stuff all day long," said Zucker. "But ultimately ..
. if you put yourself in the right position time and time and time again, you're going to give yourself a better chance to win." Get in the game with our Prep Sports Newsletter Sent weekly directly to your inbox! Sports Columnist {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
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