BUFFALO, N.Y. — The response the Buffalo Sabres had to their loss on Tuesday to the Toronto Maple Leafs was just what they needed.
The Sabres weren’t ready to play their arch rival in their building which was puzzling considering they’re in a playoff race for the first time in over 10 years. Compound that with they were leaving for two games in Florida on back-to-back nights against teams that recently they were a combined 1-12-3 in the state of Florida.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are just one year removed from winning two consecutive Stanley Cups. The Sabres were very much ready to play in this game as they played well and put pressure on the Tampa Bay defense and goaltender. You know the old saying that your best players must be your best players, and Tage Thompson, Jeff Skinner, Alex Tuch and Rasmus Dahlin were very much up for the assignment.
In the two wins down south, Thompson had a hat trick against the Lightning and three assists against the Florida Panthers. Skinner had two assists against the Lightning and two goals against the Panthers. Dahlin was just good throughout both games.
With six points in two games, Thompson ended Friday night fifth in league scoring with 78 points.
Goaltending was the key to both wins. On Thursday, Eric Comrie did give up five goals, but when his team needed him most, he was huge.
Tampa Bay started overtime on the power play and Comrie made four great saves on Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov as they were blasting one-timers from the two circles. That allowed Ilya Lyubushkin to score his first goal as a Sabre on a shorthanded breakaway to win the game.
Friday was a special night for Craig Anderson. The Anderson family lives very close to Sunrise, and his son brought his friends to the game for a birthday party. Anderson didn’t get the rest he normally does in between games, but the move paid off as he stopped 49 of 50 shots and Buffalo won 3-1. In the third period, the 41-year-old goalie made 23 saves on 24 shots.
If you add in the 47 minutes he played Tuesday in relief of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Anderson has made 66 saves on 68 shots.
Now let’s not get the idea that the Sabres got run over in this game because they didn’t. Buffalo had 33 shots. I thought Buffalo was excellent in transition, especially in the first 40 minutes putting a lot of stress on the Panthers defense.
It was just two extremely impressive games from a very young team. They had 48 hours to figure out together why Tuesday happened and how to fix it and fix it they did.
Another good point is there was adversity in these two games, and the team didn’t crumble. On Wednesday, Buffalo had three two-goal leads but fought back each time. This is the Tampa Bay Lightning and you know they’re not going away quietly on their home ice.
When the game went from 3-1 to 3-2, Jack Quinn scored 49 seconds later. When the game went from 4-2 to 4-3, Tage Thompson scored 30 seconds later.
When a 5-3 game became 5-5, the team played as a team and found a way to win.
In Florida, Henri Jokiharju took a perfect pass from Thompson and scored from the slot to make it 2-0, Florida challenged the goal and Alex Tuch was ruled offside. The team didn’t get deflated and nothing changed. They just kept pushing up ice and Tuch scored the goal to make it 2-0.
The Sabres are now 16-3-2 in their last 21 road games. Why they have lost 17 of 28 at home is a mystery to me and to them, because if it was an easy answer, they’d fix it.
I wouldn’t think that the reason Granato started Anderson in Florida is because they’ve lost confidence in Luukkonen. Granato was very clear on Tuesday after the game that the loss wasn’t on Luukkonen and not to take it that way just because he was pulled. Granato did what he thought was best to win a hockey game on Friday and it worked.
So Buffalo boarded their plane on Friday in a playoff spot. There are still plenty of games left and plenty of ups and downs to come, but it’s still the first playoff race for this organization in 10 years.