BUFFALO – In the recent past, the Sabres might’ve lost a game like Saturday afternoon’s 3-2 shootout win. They blew an early two-goal lead as the Calgary Flames roared back. They had to kill a penalty just to survive overtime.
“I’ve used the phrase, ‘You’ve got to be comfortable being uncomfortable,’” coach Lindy Ruff said following the Sabres’ third consecutive victory. “The game got uncomfortable, and you have to trust how you’re playing.”
That trust has helped the Sabres reach .500 again (7-7-1). Less than a week ago, they had a three-game losing streak. Concern was growing the slump could morph into an early-season collapse. Same old Sabres.
But in downing the Flames, New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators in a five-day span, they’ve looked like a more mature team that has grasped Ruff’s expectations.
“There’s games this season we should’ve won and we didn’t get rewarded for it,” said Sabres center Tage Thompson, whose power-play goal made it 2-0 13:27 into the contest. “Sometimes when that happens, it’s easy to try something else and look for a different way. We haven’t. We’ve stuck with the same idea, the same process, just kind of believe that it’s going to eventually get us results, and that’s what’s going on.”
The Sabres have gotten results by winning in different ways. They throttled the Rangers 6-1 on the road after opening up a 5-0 lead. They scored three third-period goals against the Senators to pull away and win 5-1.
On Saturday before a crowd of 16,442 fans in KeyBank Center, they eked out a victory, getting a goal from JJ Peterka and three saves from goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in the shootout.
“That’s the most important thing right now, to find that level of game that we need to play,” Luukkonen said. “Not every game is going to be perfect. (You need to) kind of find a way to battle through those games that we don’t feel as comfortable as we want to or as good as we want to. As a good team, you need to push through those games, too.
“There’s going to be a lot of different opponents in this league. Teams play different ways. You have to be able to trust your own game, and the last three games we’ve been doing that.”
Thompson said: “Sometimes good teams find ways to win. We did that tonight.”
On Monday afternoon at home against the Montreal Canadiens, the Sabres will try to win four consecutive games for the first time since a five-game streak from Jan. 19 to 26, 2023.
Early Saturday, it looked like the Sabres might run the Flames out of the building. Winger Zach Benson scored at 1:11, his second goal in as many games.
Thompson’s lethal one-timer from the left circle, his team-leading 10th goal this season, was the Sabres’ seventh power-play score in their last seven contests. Remember, they began the season scoreless in their first 22 attempts over eight games.
Matt Coronato and Michael Backlund scored to erase the Sabres’ lead.
Coronato beat Luukkonen alone in front 17:44 into the second period as a referee called roughing penalties on Justin Kirkland and Sabres defenseman Dennis Gilbert. While it appeared the play should’ve been blown dead, Ruff said he was told the puck went in before the official’s arm went up.
Backlund tied it 15:42 into the third period, roofing a shot by a screened Luukkonen from the left circle.
In overtime, a poor change left the Sabres being short-handed for the final 1:20.
“We got a big block out of (Connor) Clifton,” Ruff said of how the Sabres killed the too-many-men penalty. “I thought (Jordan) Greenway did an unbelievable job being in the middle and funneling pucks to the outside where they didn’t get that big shot from the middle of the ice or even like a top down one timer.”
Luukkonen, who made 14 of his 24 saves in the third period and overtime, slammed the door in the shootout.
The Finn has performed splendidly over the Sabres’ three-game streak, posting a 1.30 goals-against average and a .956 save percentage.
“He’s played very well,” Ruff said. “The team play has been better and his play has been better. He’s really made key saves. You look at the overtime save he made for us, that allows you to get the extra point in the game.”
Following an underwhelming few weeks, Luukkonen has resembled the netminder who ranked among the NHL’s elite the second half of last season.
“We’ve been playing really good hockey and that helps me, of course,” he said following his fourth straight start and eighth in the last nine games. “I always talk about it’s nice to play a lot of games. I think that’s been paying off for me, too. Being able to take what I learned at the end of last season and take it to this season.
“Just overall, I feel like the confidence is high in our game and the confidence in my game is high, too. That’s a good point to be at as a goalie.”
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Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram played 32 minutes, 34 seconds against the Flames, the highest total of any NHL player this season. He’s the sixth skater in franchise history to eclipse the 32-minute mark and the first since defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen on Feb. 6, 2018.
“You learn stuff about players game in and game out,” Ruff said. “He’s got a good engine. He can play a lot of minutes. He’s a great skater. He recovers fast. That’s the only way a guy can play that amount of minutes.
“Thought we had a couple of D that struggled a little bit, so you give the other guys the extra minutes.”
Captain Rasmus Dahlin, Byram’s partner, skated a season-high 28 minutes, 28 seconds. Meanwhile, Gilbert, who took three minor penalties, skated a team-low 10 minutes, 18 seconds.
Notes: The Sabres have scored in the opening 75 seconds in consecutive games for sixth time in franchise history. … The Sabres have scored first 11 times this season. They’re 6-4-1 in those games. … The Sabres scratched winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel and defensemen Henri Jokiharju and Mattias Samuelsson (all healthy).
