The Buffalo Sabres are on the road for the next week playing four more games in six nights beginning tomorrow with a visit to Las Vegas. The Sabres kicked off their five game trip out west with a pretty strong 3-0 shutout win over an Arizona Coyotes team that's really struggling so far. Through their first four games (including the Buffalo loss) the 'Yotes are 1-3-0 and were shutout in all three losses.
Buffalo did a lot of good things in their win against Arizona Saturday night. They pressured the Coyotes early and got a goal just 2:26 into the game as Rasmus Dahlin scored his first career NHL goal by sneaking between three Arizona players in the slot and depositing the rebound off of a Jeff Skinner drive to the net. Skinner was exceptional on that play as he streaked in and drew all the attention while Dahlin followed the play and lifted the stick of an unsuspecting Brad Richardson before burying the rebound.
Skinner himself finally got on the board as a Buffalo Sabre when he deked 'Yotes goalie Anti Raanta before roofing a sweet backhand to seal the victory late in the third period. The former Carolina Hurricanes winger, whom the Sabres traded for, had been a little snake-bitten as he'd fail to score in his first four games but had been playing well. Buffalo bench boss Phil Housley had praised Skinner for his puck-retrieval work on the forecheck and play on backcheck and it seemed as if it was only a matter of time before he broke through with a goal.
Meanwhile on the defensive side of things, rookie goalie Linus Ullmark pitched the first shutout of his NHL career by stopping all 36 Arizona shots. The two-time Rochester Americans MVP got the call after watching veteran Carter Hutton usher the Sabres to a 2-2-0 start to the season. The 25 yr. old Ullmark was poised in net as he calmly took care of the crease leaving very little opportunities for the Coyotes and when they did get off a great shot, he was there to stop it. He was named the game's first star.
The Sabres will conclude their two-game series with the Vegas Golden Knights tomorrow night in "Sin City." Buffalo defeated Vegas 4-2 in a Monday matinee last week and is looking to even the series in the win column. The Knights beat the Sabres both times as their storybook inaugural season lead them all the way to the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals. Vegas is off to a rough 2-4-0 start this season as they've lost the magic that propelled them to an 8-1-0 start last year.
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Dahlin, Skinner and Ullmark are all locked in with the big club this season as are a number of other Sabres players, but there are a few who are fighting to stay. Young players like Tage Thompson and vets like Johan Larsson, Nathan Beaulieu and Casey Nelson are all looking to stick with the club but have some Amerks players who are making a push to replace them.
Unlike the past two season where the Sabres organization was devoid of quality depth, this year is different as a convergence of draft picks and free agent signings have upped the level of competition for not only roster spots but for playing time as well.
Rochester has six players as healthy scratches, according to Let's Go Amerks writer Keith Wozniak, which should add some urgency to those in the lineup on any given night. Amerks head coach Chris Taylor wants his team to be tough and gritty to play against with the backend joining the play. The first two games he didn't get that as they lost two games against the Charlotte Checkers (CAR) 10-4 at home to start the season. They came back with a win against the Syracuse Crunch (TBL) the team that swept them in the playoffs last season with Wozniak writing "roster changes the first two games of the season set the tone that right now there’s competition for playing time."
“I tried to set the standard right off the bat if you don’t play well," Taylor told the local media last week. "The accountability is there, we’ll put someone else in the lineup."
The coach had to stop practice on Friday to get his point across. “It’s not just for our defensive habits out there, its for our offensive habits too. If we’re not used to playing against guys that are hitting in practice and then all of a sudden we’re in a game and not used to it. We need to push each other every day. It’s not acceptable that we don’t practice like we play. We make sure we preached that and we want to make sure we’re doing that and it’ll make us that much better.”
Rochester just finished taking two games from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (NYI) over the weekend to give them a three-game winning streak.
The Amerks are beginning to gel and there are two players in particular who are turning some heads. Seventh round pick Victor Olofsson (2014, 181st overall) is leading the Amerks in scoring through five games with three goals and five assists. The 23 yr. old native of Sweden came to North America after leading the Swedish Hockey League with 27 goals last season. Olofsson is tied for third in the AHL in scoring so far.
Another Swede, defenseman Lawrence Pilut, is also having an impact. The undrafted free agent whom Sabres GM Jason Botterill signed in May is second amongst AHL defensemen in points with six (2+4) and is sporting a plus-5 plus/minus rating. Taylor talked of Pilut having to adjust to the smaller North American ice surface and it seems as if the 2018 SHL Defenseman of the Year is doing just that.
What Taylor said about having another player ready to take over a spot in the lineup goes for the organization as well. Take a player like Thompson. Although the 20 yr. old right winger has been playing well, he's yet to hit the scoresheet despite playing second line minutes for a good chunk of Buffalo's first five games. It might be a little early to call up Olofsson to replace Thompson but that possibility is there right now only five games into the season.
On the back end, Pilut is exactly the type of defenseman Housley and the Sabres love as he has the mobility and offensive acumen to help the Sabres score. And he's proven to be pretty sound in his own end as well. Both Nelson and Beaulieu already have the prospect of Zach Bogosian replacing one of them when he officially returns to action and to have Pilut off to this kind of start is pushing them to play better. Both have done well as Buffalo's third pairing, but there are players ready to take their spots in the lineup.
Internal competition is a key driver to success and after many years, the Sabres organization finally has some quality depth which will help drive that aspect.
It's a pleasure to be able to write about that.
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