BUFFALO – Just like that, a 50-goal season might be attainable for scorching Sabres winger Tage Thompson. Six games are left. After scoring three times in Sunday’s 6-3 win over the Boston Bruins, he has 43 goals.
Is it likely he will become the first Sabres player to score 50 goals in 32 years? No, but the prestigious mark is certainly within reach.
Right now, Thompson is the NHL’s hottest scorer, having registered eight goals in the last seven contests after Sunday’s hat trick.
Remember, he once scored four goals in one period and five in that game.
Thompson, who scored a career-high 47 times in 2022-23, is aware 50 is in play. He set his sights on hitting again 40 this season, a goal he reached in Tuesday’s 5-2 road win over the Ottawa Senators.
“I think when you set personal goals for yourself, once you hit them, you kind of just keep adjusting them,” Thompson said. “I obviously hit one of them the other night, and I keep raising the bar and seeing how far you can go.
“Yeah, it’s definitely a goal of mine, and we’ll see if I can get there.”
Thompson ranks third in NHL goal scoring this season behind Leon Draisaitl and William Nylander. The American has one more tally than Alex Ovechkin, who scored his 895th goal Sunday, breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time mark.
Over the past two weeks, the 6-foot-6 Thompson, 27, has often performed dominantly, holding onto the puck and moving it with authority to create offense. His lethal shot, of course, ranks among the NHL’s elite.
“That’s definitely something I try to do is hold onto pucks and use my size and strength to create offense to find open guys or create space for myself to get a shot,” Thompson said. “I think some games you feel pretty good. I feel like I’ve been generating quite a bit of chances recently, and sometimes when you’re playing like that you just get some confidence, and when you’re making one play, you seem to make another.”
In recent games, with his burgeoning confidence on full display, it sometimes feels like a matter of time before he scores.
“He’s (6-6) with the poise of a Norris candidate and the poise of a little skill guy,” said Sabres winger Alex Tuch, whose goal in the second period, his 33rd this season, tied the game at 2. “It’s awesome to see, and, obviously, the shot is like none other I’ve ever seen. So don’t tell him I said all those good things.”
Thompson beat goalie Joonas Korpisalo at the net – winger Zach Benson moved the puck to him while battling two defenders at the crease – to make it 2-1 7:35 into the second period.
After captain Rasmus Dahlin tied the game at 3 later in the second period and winger Jason Zucker scored from the left circle put the Sabres up 4-3 1:59 into the third period, Thompson sealed the game before the crowd of 15,653 in KeyBank Center.
Thompson scored at 5:51 after center Jiri Kulich’s long pass sent him in on a breakaway. He added a 142-foot empty-net goal at 19:14.
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said Thompson, who has mostly been utilized as a right winger throughout the second half of the season, has been skating well and enjoying chemistry with his linemates.
“I think the fact that Kulich’s game is really back toward where it needs to be (has helped),” Ruff said of the rookie, who recently missed time with a concussion. “It’s freed him up to take off. You don’t get a breakaway like that if you’re playing center in your own end. There’s a lot of pluses to being on the wing, and Kuli’s done a really nice job.
“And I thought the other part is Benson had a heck of a night – with the puck, down low.”
The Sabres, who extended their winning streak to four games, found themselves down 2-0 in the first period.
Ruff said puck management cost the Sabres early.
“We handed them a couple gifts,” he said. “I think the good part of that is that we were able to correct that and simplify the game, and we got rewarded for it. I thought after the first period, we played a great game.”
That allowed goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who started for just the third time in 10 games, to settle in. The Finn made 17 saves, including a stop on Vinni Lettieri as he zoomed in alone with the game tied in the third period.
Thirty-five seconds later, Zucker scored.
Notes: Former Sabres defenseman Henri Jokiharju received a warm ovation from the crowd following a tribute video in his first visit to Buffalo since the Sabres traded him to the Bruins on March 7. … The Sabres went with the same 18 skaters for the second straight game, scratching defenseman Jacob Bryson (healthy) and forwards Jordan Greenway (lower body, seven games) Tyson Kozak (hip strain, two games) and Josh Norris (mid-body, 12 games). … Elias Lindholm, Morgan Geekie and former Sabre Casey Mittelstadt scored for the Bruins.
