BUFFALO – Hey, considering the adversity they battled, the Sabres enjoyed a pretty solid opening month.
Was it up the lofty standard they set last season? Hardly. But a team that kept falling behind multiple goals seemingly each night and had 11 players miss time with injuries finished October with a 7-4-3 record and has points in eight of its last nine games.
Last week, the Sabres finally found a groove, closing their four-game road trip by winning three straight games in California.
In Wednesday’s 2-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks, they played their tightest and arguably best game this season. In Thursday’s wild 7-6 win against the Anaheim Ducks, they erased an early 2-0 deficit and imposed their offensive might on an opponent, scoring six straight goals.
In Saturday afternoon’s 3-2 win in Los Angeles, they scored two power-play goals for the second consecutive contest, including the late winner from winger Tage Thompson after the Kings tied the game.
Of course, the Sabres, who begin a four-game home stand Wednesday against the Ottawa Senators, are still a work in progress. They haven’t consistently resembled the powerhouse that finished last season on a 39-9-5 tear and earned 109 points.
They’ve often looked disjointed and displayed a porous defense. Both special team units have struggled. Several players are still underperforming.
Through 14 games, forwards Josh Doan, Peyton Krebs, Ryan McLeod and Josh Norris have combined to score six goals.
Still, the Sabres have regularly found different ways to triumph or at least register a point.
“Everyone’s going to go through adversity at different points, so good for us to go through a little early and help prepare us for the rest of the season,” said Sabres winger Tage Thompson, who has scored five goals in the last two games and earned NHL First Star honors for the week ending Sunday.
Just as the Sabres have gotten hot, some injured players are close to playing again and a couple of others have gone down.
On Monday, four injured Sabres – goalie Alex Lyon, defenseman Conor Timmins and forwards Jiri Kulich and Justin Danforth – returned to practice.
Meanwhile, winger Zach Benson, who was injured late in Saturday’s win, missed the session with an undisclosed injury and is day to day, Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. If Benson can’t practice Tuesday, Ruff said, he will at least have a rehab skate.
Ruff also said rookie forward Konsta Helenius, who suffered an upper-body injury against the Sharks, will be sidelined week to week.
“Looking around the league, there’s been a lot of injuries around the league, and I think it’s become a little bit of the norm now with the number of players that are hurt,” Ruff said in KeyBank Center. “You got to have depth to get through it.
“We’ve had guys that have stepped up in the absence of the guys that have been out that helped us win hockey games.”
Lyon, fresh off a career-best season, has been out since injuring his left shoulder in a preseason game Sept. 24.
“It’s been the longest absence of my career, and so mentally, it’s frustrating,” he said. “… I’m just frothing at the mouth at this point to play some games.”
But Lyon, having suffered a setback after briefly returning to practice in October, wants to be patient.
“I probably just pushed a little too hard too early,” he said. “I don’t even know that it was too soon. It just wasn’t quite right yet, so kind of had to hit the pause button there and make sure things were good.”
Lyon said he was “pretty much a full go” Monday. While he doesn’t have a return date, he said he’s “close” to playing.
Other injury updates are below.
– Ruff said Kulich, who entered concussion protocol after a puck hit him in the face during practice Oct. 23, has passed all the necessary tests.
“So he’s back full bore in practice,” he said. “I thought he had a good day of practice today. He had a couple good days skating here. Probably if that trip was a little longer, he would’ve joined us.”
Kulich, who has missed four games, centered Krebs and Thompson during the session.
– Ruff said Timmins and Danforth both need time to get ready to play.
Timmins suffered a lower-body injury when he crashed into the end boards late in the preseason finale Sept. 26. He finished the game before undergoing imaging the day after.
“It was just something that blew up the next day,” he said.
Danforth, who has missed the last five games, has an upper-body injury.
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A torrid three-game stretch in which Thompson tied for the league lead in goals (five), points (eight), even-strength goals (four) and even-strength points (five) earned him NHL First Star honors.