Lessons to learn.

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 10-8-2019


The Columbus Blue Jackets did to Buffalo what the Sabres had done to the Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils in their opening two games. Columbus harassed and pressured Buffalo from start to overtime finish in their 4-3 win and generally made life miserable for the visiting Sabres as they cut of passing lanes and used deft stickwork to throttle a previously high-flying Buffalo team.

Sabres captain Jack Eichel and his linemates Sam Reinhart and Victor Olofsson were held scoreless until Olofsson slapped home the game-tying goal with just 1:14 left on the clock with the goalie pulled and Buffalo on the powerplay. The 6-on-4 advantage came courtesy of a late faceoff violation on the Jackets' Boone Jenner as he used his hand to move the  puck on the draw. Olofsson set up in his spot on the left circle and slapped home a one-timer off a feed from Rasmus Dahlin for his third goal in as many games.

That was about it for Buffalo's top line as they could only muster a total of six shots on goal--one from Eichel, two from Reinhart and three from Olofsson--which wasn't bad considering the Sabres totaled only 18 shots the entire game. Columbus on the other hand peppered goalie Buffalo goalie Linus Ullmark with 44 shots on goal, which was only two less than the Sabres allowed to the Penguins and Devils combined.




All said, Buffalo did well to battle back as they faced some adversity for the first time this season.The Jackets went ahead 2-0 in the first period before the Sabres tied it up with two of their own in the second and they came back to tie it again with that late Olofsson goal. As one could imagine with 44 shots against, Buffalo leaned heavily on Ullmark and he kept coming up with big saves time after time. "Icebeardude," as his twitter handle denotes, was cool in net stopping at least a half-dozen premium opportunities (including one with the shaft of his stick) in a star-worthy performance.

"Linus gave us a chance," said Sabres head coach Ralph Krueger post-game. "We showed character on an off night to comeback, again thanks to Linus buying us some time."

In typical "Chillmark" fashion, Ullmark was matter-of-fact after the game and didn't get caught up in either his stellar performance or the team's loss. Ullmark always seems to call it like it is and keeps an eye the big picture. When asked about the loser-point his team got, he stated with a sigh, "Well, I don't see it as us getting a point, I see it as we lost one point. That's the approach we should have.

"We've just got to recharge, be a little bit sour about the loss today," he said. "It's going to be a new day tomorrow, there's nothing else to it. We have a lot of games going forward."

In contrast to Ullmark's stellar performance and his short, stand-up post-game interview, Eichel had a game he'd rather forget. The Sabres captain was stewing and red-faced in the locker room after a tough night and didn't face any questions but you could tell it was eating at him. The overtime goal was on him as he wasted a strong effort by Olofsson to get him the puck in corner left of Ullmark. After trying to get a little too cute, Eichel was bullied off the puck by veteran Blue Jacket Nick Foligno. Columbus' captain turned to feed a streaking Alexander Texier who buried a snapshot past Ullmark.

While keeping in mind that Krueger wants his players to express their personality and be creative, Eichel tried to be a little too creative and was giving the puck away too much in the process and the personality he expressed wasn't that of "Sabres Hockey-2019" at all. For those who'd seen "The Core" from a decade earlier, Eichel's dipsy-doodle turnovers looked like the failed attempts of another No. 9, center Derek Roy, who was part of a wanna-be showoff group of individual players that really didn't accomplish much.

With Eichel and his line struggling, props should be given out to the Johan Larsson line as he, Zemgus Girgensons and Kyle Okposo, were on their toes all game and gave the Jackets fits, especially in the first period where they were the only trio to muster any consistent offensive zone time. The second powerplay unit also looked excellent as Marcus Johansson scored off of some nice passing from Conor Sheary and Colin Miller. A nod should also be given to Krueger for giving them over a minute of powerplay time and the one extra rush to get the job done.

And what can you say about Jeff Skinner after he pick-pocketed Columbus defender Ryan Murray in the high slot and wheeled before calmly sniping Buffalo's second goal?

Exactly.

Krueger called it an "off night" and said his team showed character in coming back to get a point "If on off nights we dig out points like this on the road," he said, "we can learn with some pain but not as much as we could have had."

The Sabres opened the season snaring five of six points in their first three games and did so against three Eastern Conference teams, all of whom should be in the playoff mix. They'll return home for three straight games at KeyBank Center against Atlantic Division foes the Montreal Canadiens and Florida Panthers followed by a game against the Dallas Stars. The Canadiens and Panthers are built a bit differently but both are backstopped by premier goalies in Carey Price and Sergei Bobrovsky, respectively, and like Columbus are well coached.

It will be a huge challenge for Buffalo and we'll see just how much this Sabres team has learned.