BUFFALO – From his seat in the press box high above the KeyBank Center ice, Jarmo Kekalainen couldn’t have liked what he saw in the opening 30 or so minutes of his first game as Sabres general manager.
Early in Thursday’s 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers, the Sabres looked out of sync and sluggish, falling behind 2-1 in the second period.
But by late in that period, as they found their legs, the Sabres began playing the brand of hockey Kekalainen talked about Tuesday in his introductory news conference.
They showcased a competitive and relentless style, going ahead late in the second period before opening up a two-goal lead in the third before the crowd of 16,055 fans.
After Philadelphia narrowed it to 4-3, the Sabres killed off a late penalty in which the Flyers pulled goalie Samuel Ersson, getting a critical block from winger Alex Tuch. Center Ryan McLeod’s empty-net goal sealed the Sabres’ fourth straight win.
In their last three victories, they’ve carried one-goal leads into the third period and held them.
“There’s just an energy on the bench that it’s calm, collected,” said, Sabres center Tage Thompson, who tied the game in the second period. “I think that’s why we’re finding ways to win.”
Kekalainen, who replaced Kevyn Adams on Monday, is beginning a full-scale evaluation of his team that will undoubtedly result in changes.
Of course, if the Sabres keep performing like they did late Thursday and over the final three contests of their six-game road trip, perhaps Kekalainen, who expressed confidence his team can end its 14-year playoff drought, will keep the moves to a minimum.
The Sabres have been wildly inconsistent this season. Sunday’s 3-1 win over the Seattle Kraken extended their win streak to a season-high three games.
They often get too high or too low. But in grinding out these recent victories, they’ve stayed even-keeled.
“That was really encouraging that we just continued to stay the course,” said Sabres goalie Alex Lyon, who made 24 saves. “They scored in the third and we continued to stay the course. We locked it down. We could have caved a little bit there but we did a really good job.”
Naturally, those recent wins have helped the Sabres generate confidence.
“It gives you experience that you know you can do it again when you’re put in situations like that,” Thompson said. “Yeah, I really don’t think there’s as much doubt in our game once we get a lead.”
Despite their slow start – the Flyers outshot the Sabres 12-4 in the first period – winger Jack Quinn’s goal 7:40 into the contest gave them an early lead before Noah Cates tied it 58 seconds later.
Cam York’s goal 11:01 into the second period gave the Flyers their first lead.
What got the Sabres going?
“I think we finally got our legs under us,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “When your legs aren’t going, your hands aren’t very good. Our puck decisions in that first period were poor, to say the least, put us in a lot of trouble.
“I’ll give them some credit, they stayed on top of us, didn’t give us a lot of ice. And I thought early part of that second period, we put some shifts together back to back that really helps us.”
Thompson scored at 16:54 before rookie center Noah Ostlund put them up again at 19:30. Center Josh Norris’ power-play goal 10:20 into the third period made it 5-3.
However, the win, which moved the Sabres above .500 (15-14-4), was costly.
Ruff said defenseman Conor Timmins suffered a broken leg in the third period and will be sidelined six to eight weeks.
Meanwhile, oft-injured center Tyson Kozak left the game after York scored.
“Just had a little bit of a problem that they’re looking into,” Ruff said.
The win, the 915th of Ruff’s career, moved him into sole possession of fourth place on the all-time list past Barry Trotz.
