BUFFALO – The genesis of the Sabres’ five-goal, first-period outburst in Saturday afternoon’s 8-2 shellacking of the New York Rangers can be traced to their practice sessions earlier in the week.
When the Sabres reconvened Tuesday following a nine-day break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, coach Lindy Ruff began driving them hard, demanding pace. They practiced with purpose.
Their first two sessions were the longest of the season. After doing off-ice work Thursday, they had another brisk practice Friday.
“All week in practice … we were looking to get up and down the rink a lot, play quick,” said Sabres winger Jordan Greenway, who returned from a 23-game absence. “I think that’s a big strength of our game, and we said, ‘… Just keep them on their heels all game, especially in the first 10 minutes, try to run them out of the building, and we executed it pretty well.”
The Sabres executed it to a tee, pouncing on the Rangers, who had six players in Saturday’s lineup who participated in the 4 Nations, including four members of Team USA who played in Thursday’s final.
Winger Jack Quinn scored just 1:46 into the contest, a harbinger for a wild opening period before a capacity crowd of 19,070 fans in KeyBank Center.
The Sabres opened up a commanding lead thanks to two goals from captain Rasmus Dahlin and the first of two scores each from center Ryan McLeod and winger Tage Thompson.
“We were aggressive,” said Dahlin, who has compiled three goals and 11 points during his six-game point streak. “We came out flying, honestly.”
After Dahlin’s second goal, a power-play tally at 18:21, the Rangers yanked Igor Shesterkin, the eighth time the Sabres have chased the starting goalie this season. They also put Shesterkin on the bench Nov. 7 in New York.
“There’s been a pretty good track record when we’ve had real good practices about how we play,” Ruff said. “I tend to err on the side of really hard versus backing off. So it was a well-deserved win by our group with the way we played.”
While the Sabres remain last in the Eastern Conference with 23 points, they’ve been building some momentum. They’ve won five of their last six outings, including five straight home games.
“We still got a lot of hockey left,” said Greenway, who registered an assist on Dahlin’s first goal. “Anything could happen.”
If they have any hope of roaring into the playoff chase, they must keep rattling off wins. Ruff said earlier in the week he has broken down the final stretch of the season into five-game segments. He said the Sabres must earn at least seven points during each section.
“I feel like everybody’s just buying in right now,” Dahlin said. “Everybody really wants to make a push here. You see it off the ice, too. Guys are working really hard in the gym and everybody wants to take the next step. So we’ve just gotta continue to build.”
The Sabres kept building their goal total Saturday. Throughout the season, they’ve showcased a disturbing penchant for blowing big leads and losing.
After goals in the second period from Chris Kreider (power play) and Mika Zibanejad moved the Rangers to within 5-2, Thompson, McLeod and defenseman Henri Jokiharju scored in the third period to cement the victory.
Dahlin’s early exploits helped the Sabres essentially put the game out of reach. For most of the season, the ultra-talented defenseman said he has “been working through some nagging injuries.”
“I wasn’t able to really shoot it,” said Dahlin, who represented Team Sweden at the 4 Nations. “Let’s blame it on that.”
Ruff said “this is probably the healthiest he’s been.”
“He doesn’t complain about much, you don’t really know,” he said. “But I think you can see it in his game, for sure.”
Ruff said the Sabres’ last game before the break, a 6-4 road loss to the Nashville Predators, “was probably his best of the year.”
“I thought he got even better tonight,” he said. “Came out better. I think he’s feeling a little bit coming off the 4 Nations. But he really did lead the way. He played well, he looked calm out there, he made some great plays.”
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Sabres winger Alex Tuch left the game early in the third period after Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller hit him into the corner boards. Ruff did not have an update.
After staying on the ice and being attended to, he skated off the ice and went to the dressing room.
“From my discussion with him really I don’t feel too concerned, but we’ll get more of an update tomorrow and he how he’s doing,” Ruff said.
Notes: The Sabres got three players back from injury against the Rangers: Greenway, winger Beck Malenstyn and defenseman Mattias Samuelsson. … The Sabres scratched forward Sam Lafferty and defensemen Jacob Bryson and Connor Clifton. … Sabres winger Jason Zucker recorded three assists, giving him 200 in his career. … Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 26 saves. … The Sabres hadn’t scored eight goals since a 9-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Dec. 21, 2023. … When a puck hit Sabres color analyst Rob Ray in the face at ice level in the first period, he cursed on the air. Not surprisingly, the legendary tough guy kept calling the game. Later in the broadcast, he showed some stitches he received around his left eye. … Sabres defenseman Dennis Gilbert has played in four straight games for the second time this season. He had been dressing as their seventh defender.
