That was a quote from Aaron Portzline of BlueJackets Xtra on the pairing of Sabres defense prospects Rasmus Ristolainen and Nikita Zadorov at the opening game of the Traverse City Tournament between Columbus and Buffalo.
Portzline has been covering the Blue Jackets since their inception in 2000.
The Sabres defeated the Blue Jackets 3-2 with Ristolainen scoring the game winner early in the second period on a 5-on-3. The defenseman took a cross-ice pass from Johan Larsson and snapped a shot that went through a Columbus d-man and found the back of the net.
Nicholas Baptiste and Justin Bailey also scored for the Sabres putting the team up 2-0 just over three minutes into the game.
Zadorov assisted on Baptiste's goal while Peter Trainor and Colin Jacobs assisted on Bailey's. Trainor is with the club on a tryout.
Tougher to play against has been the mantra for the Sabres moving forward and it's something that the team focused upon at the 2013 NHL Draft.
Apparently, accoring to Portzline, the Sabres prospects played a hard-hitting game. While commenting on Jackets' d-man Ryan Murray, playing his first game in nearly a year, he said that Murray's game held up well after taking "plenty of jarring hits from the physical young Sabres."
Despite having to cling to a one-goal lead for nearly a period and a half, and despite "feeling probably a little too good about [themselves]" after jumping to that early lead, according to Sabres coach Chadd Cassidy, the youngins toughed it out and came through with a win.
Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com was on the scene at Traverse City and gave his three stars for the Sabres: 1st, Nathan Leiuwen; 2nd Dan Catenacci; 3rd, Zadorov.
For more on how individual prospects fared, Baker offers up the prospects report for Sabres.com.
Next stop, the NY Rangers prospects today at 4pm.
Click here for highlights of yesterdays game.
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