Entertaining, fun and suspenseful hockey made it's way into Sabreland late last week and into the weekend. Sure, the Buffalo Sabres back-to-back, come-from-behind wins were eventually dwarfed yesterday by a 2-7 Buffalo Bills team that managed to run roughshod over the New York Jets (41-10) as a seven-point underdog, but what the Sabres were able to do was pretty impressive too.
On Thursday night in Montreal the Sabres blew four one-goal leads over the Canadiens before hitting the second intermission down 5-4. Buffalo tied it early in the third period before winning it in overtime. It was as entertaining a game as you'd find and coming out on the winning end made it all the better. They returned home for a Saturday matinee against the Vancouver Canucks and scored twice in the final 2:27 to tie the score at 3-3 and eventually win it in the shootout. According to the NHL it was only the seventh time in the history of the team, and the first time since March 24, 2010, that they tied the score while being down by two goals with 5:00 or less left in the game.
It's also the first time since January, 2017 that the Sabres have won back-to-back games in overtime and the first time since December, 2014 when including a shootout. Those two on wins on December 13th and 15th happen to be the tail end of their last winning streak of more than three games.
The Sabres are also above over the real .500 mark again with a 9-6-2 record and they are 6-2-2 in their last 10 games. Included in that stretch is a three-game win streak that kicked off a five-game point streak (3-0-2.)
There's a confidence level with this team that we haven't seen in a long time. In fact one can make the argument that it may have been over a decade since we've seen a Sabres team truly believe, and we the fanbase actually believe, that they're never out of a game. "You look at probably the last few years, it’s been a little bit tougher to come back in games," said Sabres captain Jack Eichel to the media after the Vancouver game. "This year we’ve had some third periods where we’re down or trailing or maybe we give a goal up we’re not happy about, but I think the resiliency in this group and that never-out-of-it attitude, the ability to continue to fight, it’s been tremendous."
At the 17-game mark of this young season the Sabres are third in the Atlantic Division with 20 points and they're playing some good hockey that many times is fun to watch.
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A big reason the Sabres are fun to watch, have the confidence to come back and are where they are in the standings is that they're scoring more. Buffalo was at the bottom of the league three times in the last five seasons including 2017-18 where they managed 2.41 goals/game. This season, with the help of a nine-goal eruption vs. Ottawa, the Sabres are 19th in the league averaging 3.06 g/gm. The last time the Sabres were finished the season over three goals/game was in 2007-08 at 3.06 g/gm.
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The acquisition of Carolina Hurricanes left winger Jeff Skinner was a huge get in the goal-scoring department for Buffalo. GM Jason Botterill went into the off-season without a top-six left winger and acquired Conor Sheary and Skinner in separate trades to solidify that side of the forward group. Sheary, a former Pittsburgh Penguin, got off to a good start faded a bit but now has six goals through 17 games.
Skinner got off to a slow start as head coach Phil Housley tried to find him a home with the right linemates. The three-time 30-goal scorer started out on the top line with Eichel and Sam Reinhart but was moved to the second line for the next handful of games before eventually landing back with Eichel on the top line. That move was part of a big forward shake-up heading into a road game against the Los Angeles Kings has paid huge dividends for both Skinner and the Sabres. He started out with a hat trick in LA and has scored 11 of his team-leading 12 goals in the ten games since Housley made the move. Skinner is tied for second in the lead in goals.
The Sabres are also getting contributions from their defensemen, something that hadn't happened last season until December. As of right now all but one d-man has scored a goal (Casey Nelson) and they've contributed eight goals total to Buffalo's cause. Rasmus Ristolainen, who scored the game-winner on overtime against Montreal, and Nathan Beaulieu, who opened the scoring against Vancouver, lead the d-men with two goals each.
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Beaulieu has been playing very well while in the lineup, most notably cutting down on the egregious errors that were very commonplace last season, his first as a Buffalo Sabre.
Botterill traded a third round pick to Montreal for Beaulieu as he needed to add more mobility to the Sabres back-end. The 25 yr. old Strathroy, Ontario was selected 17th-overall in the 2011 NHL Draft but eventually the Canadiens lost faith in him as he started the 2016-17 season on the top-pair but fell all the way out of the lineup as a healthy scratch in Montreal's final game of their 4-2 ousting by the NY Rangers in the first round of the playoffs. He was traded about two months later.
Beaulieu's career in Buffalo didn't start out all that well as he finished his first season as a Sabres with only one goal and nine points while his minus-19 was seventh worst on a last place team. However, he's managed to turn that around by keeping his turnovers low and his plus-6 is second-best on the team behind Skinner's plus-11.
"I know last year was obviously a struggle,” said Beaulieu via Joe Yerdon of the Athletic. “But yeah, I’ve heard murmurings I’ve had good (numbers) and I feel like that’s a reflection of my play. I like my game when I’m out there.”
The Sabres coaching staff challenged him (as well as every player) to focus more and Housley has taken notice, He’s been sharp, he’s been focused, he’s moving the puck, he’s on his toes," said the coach (via Yerdon.) "I think that was just the body of work. You’re going to have times when your play dips a little bit, but he’s certainly has been really focused this year.”
Circumstances, including and injury in San Jose and a Sabres three-game winning streak, have kept Beaulieu in the press box for seven of the team's 10 games, but he has looked much better when on the ice and he's slowly earing the confidence of the coaching staff.
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Perhaps another element that has Beaulieu more focused is the push for playing time that reaches all the way down to Rochester. The Sabres have seven defensemen on the roster right now and a bevy of players and prospects in Rochester who are garnering the attention of big club.
The Americans are off to a raucous 10-3-1 start that has them atop the AHL's North Division and only one point behind the Charlotte Checkers for the tops in the league. They've scored 54 goals through 14 games (3.86 g/gm.) and have three players in the top-10 in scoring with two of those being defensemen.
Thirty-year old Zach Redmond leads all AHL defensemen with 10 goal (third in the league) and his 18 points place him fifth. Defenseman Lawrence Pilut is 22 yrs. old and is in his first North American pro season. He's tied for sixth in the league with 17 points (2+15.)
And those are just the point-scorers.
The Amerks have a plethora of defensemen playing various roles and the shear numbers allowed for them to trade Taylor Fedun to the Dallas Stars over the weekend. The 30 yr. old journeyman defenseman was signed by the Sabres to a one-year, two-way deal in 2016 and was extended with at two-year, two-way deal in 2017.
He was an Amerks alternate captain the last two seasons.
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Speaking of Redmond, he was part of another trade with Montreal back on October 4, 2017. Buffalo sent Nicolas Deslauriers to the Canadiens for Redmond in a straight-up player-for-player swap.
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And for fun, here's Casey Mittelstadt's shootout-winner vs. the Canucks (via NHL.com):
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