Mike Harrington: From James Reimer out, Sabres made the plays to ground the Jets
While the Sabres' season has effectively been over for weeks, it's at least clear their will to compete is not kaput. Sunday's win over Western-leading Winnipeg might rate as their most impressive feat of the season.
You had 37-year-old goalie James Reimer windmilling some save-of-the-season glove love in the final four minutes from the seat of his pants for the most memorable of his 33 stops. You had Connor Clifton diving headlong on a penalty kill to clear the puck and start the play that led to Alex Tuch's short-handed goal. And those are just immediate impressions.
There are plenty more. JJ Peterka scored for his third straight game. Rookie Tyson Kozak notched a critical third-period goal in a dreamworld contest where he was an NHL player in the rink less than three hours from his home. Ryan McLeod had his first career four-point game, including the 180-foot empty-netter that eased the pressure. Jacob Bernard-Docker had his first career multiple-assist outing in his first weekend on the ice with a new team.
That's making plays up and down your lineup.
While the Buffalo Sabres' season has effectively been over for weeks, it's at least clear their will to compete is not kaput. Sunday's 5-3 win over the Western Conference-leading Winnipeg Jets in Canada Life Centre might rate as their most impressive feat of the season.
Buffalo goaltender James Reimer makes a spectacular glove save from his backside on a shot by Winnipeg's
Nino Niederreiter in the Sabres' 5-3 win over the Jets in Canada Life Centre on Sunday. Fred Greenslade, The Canadian Press via AP
The Sabres were on a back-to-back and playing their fourth road game in six days with heavy travel in three time zones. The Jets, meanwhile, had been idle since Thursday and came into the game 25-5-3 at home.
At one point in the second period, the shots on goal were 21-4 in Winnipeg's favor but Reimer made sure the Sabres never trailed in outplaying Jets backup and former Buffalo goalie Eric Comrie.
The talking-point save came off Nino Niederreiter with 2:57 left and the Jets trailing, 4-3. Reimer was suddenly down in the crease and struggling to regain his footing. Instead, he calmed himself and tried to cover as much net as he could and snared the shot of Niederreiter, who looked to the rafters in disbelief.
"Well, we're paid to entertain, so I thought it would look a little better if I was on my backside," Reimer joked. "I was just kind of scrambling. They had a couple opportunities to shoot the puck, so I didn't feel like I could get up, so I just kind of swung around. At least I was covering most of the net when I was able just to see the puck and catch it."
The shots were 23-9 through two periods and ended 36-17. But the Sabres did tighten things considerably in the first half of the third period.
Nashville coach Andrew Brunette ripped his players a few days ago, especially his high-priced veterans for a lack of professionalism in the dog days of a last season. At least Lindy Ruff doesn't have to worry if his team is checked out because it's not.
The Sabres come home for the next two games and are 8-2 in the last 10 at KeyBank Center.
"We knew that there was going to be nothing easy about trying to win the game," said Ruff. "That first 40 minutes, (Reimer) was a guy that put a lot of confidence in our guys to keep at it and try to get a win."
The Sabres somehow got out of this road trip at 2-2. Owner Terry Pegula was on it and had to be thrilled by Sunday's game. Of course, he had to be less than thrilled by that embarrassing own goal in Utah or the no-show at the start of the second period in Minnesota, too.
"Utah was a tough one. We found a way to lose," Dahlin admitted. "But everyone is battling out there. Today was a really big one, back to back and we still went out there and competed and played a full 60."
In this season full of bizarre tidbits, here's another one: The Sabres, who are last in the East, now own wins over five of the West's top six teams. The only one they didn't beat this year was Colorado - and Buffalo blew leads of 4-0 and 3-0 in the two games against the Avalanche.
While Josh Norris' status remains nebulous at best and a major concern at worst, you can already see that Bernard-Docker is no throw-in in this trade. He can skate and has great vision, curling with the puck and feeding a perfect cross-ice pass with no panic whatsoever to Dahlin for Buffalo's second goal that snapped a 1-1 tie with 1:14 left in the second period.
"He's been great. Both sides of the puck," Dahlin said. "Offensively, he makes great plays and then he's really solid defensively, too, and he's tough. He's not backing down for anybody. It's a great add."
Kozak's backhand rebound at 7:13 of the third put Buffalo in front, 3-1, and his second career goal got lots of cheers from more than 100 friends and family. He grew up about three hours away in Souris, Manitoba.
"It's something I've dreamed about for a long time," Kozak said. "When the Jets came back (in 2011), I was really young (9) but it was exciting to have an NHL team close by. So to have the opportunity to play against them in the NHL was unbelievable."
The Sabres' Tyson Kozak, left, celebrates his goal against the Jets with teammate Beck Malenstyn during the third period of Sunday's game in Winnipeg.
Fred Greenslade, The Canadian Press via AP
He felt the same way about the goal, which came after Kozak won a faceoff and headed to the net to corral a Mattias Samuelsson rebound.
"Unreal. Couldn't believe it actually happened," he said. "I was able to score in front of a bunch of friends and family. Kind of a surreal moment for me."
The Sabres had belief, battled through adversity and made plays. They have to forge that trio more.
"We want to create that culture where that's the standard you bring every single night," Reimer said. "What better time to enforce that? When you're out of it, it really comes down to your character."
"We played a solid road game. It wasn't pretty, but we found a way," Dahlin said. "This is how you have to play − and rely on your goalie sometimes, too."