Mike Harrington: Maybe it was bizarre, but at least Dennis Gilbert stuck up for the Sabres' logo
The Sabres had to do something -- anything -- to restore a shred of their dignity Tuesday night. But was this it? My first reaction to the Gilbert fight was
We've spent a whole lot of time this week on The Code of hockey. The Buffalo Sabres definitely broke it Sunday afternoon and sure spent 48 hours as the team pinata of the NHL because of it.
Tage Thompson took a scummy hit from New Jersey's Stefan Noesen, and the Sabres stood around and didn't get the slice of retribution that is required in the NHL these days. They won the game but the Thompson-Noesen incident was so embarrassing that everyone was talking about the one score the Sabres didn't settle.
The team canceled practice Monday and we learned Tuesday morning, exactly as I surmised, they were in fact in KeyBank Center on Monday taking the wrath of coach Lindy Ruff and GM Kevyn Adams, and probably giving a little what-for to each other too.
Buffalo Sabres defenseman Dennis Gilbert (8) fights with Columbus Blue Jackets right wing Mathieu Olivier (24) at the beginning of the first period in KeyBank Center on Feb. 4, 2025. Joed Viera/Buffalo News
(For the record, no one would confirm Adams' presence but any GM worth his salt would be in that meeting and probably running it. Let's assume Adams was).
The players were pretty stone-faced after Tuesday's morning skate, with Alex Tuch among those promising "what happened last game won’t happen again." So when the game started with a staged fight from Dennis Gilbert against Columbus tough guy Mathieu Olivier three seconds in, it was clear the Sabres were sending the hockey world a message.
That world has been properly brutal to them the last couple of days. There's been barbs and daggers across social media from reporters in other cities, a discussion on TSN's "Insiders" and plenty of reaction at home.
Former Buffalo captain Craig Rivet and ex-enforcer Andrew Peters regularly pound the Sabres on their "After Le Whistle" podcast. Given a reason to do so after this situation, they've been properly merciless.
Alumni disturber Matthew Barnaby posted a video spiced with f-bombs about the affair.
A very sanitized snippet: "This is disgusting. This is where the Sabres have fallen. You're not making the playoffs. Even the score. Stand up for your teammate. That's just as important right now as the two points, if not more important."
Former NHL tough guy Paul Bissonnette, who has made quite a career for himself at the studio desk on the TNT telecasts, laid into the Sabres on the Spittin' Chiclets podcast earlier in the day.
"Pathetic. It made me angry," Bissonnette said of the Sabres' inaction. "It's a broken culture. You're not going to fight for your best (bleeping) player when he gets laid out when you're sitting dead last (in the East)?"
"I know we always go back to Florida with these types of things. Could you imagine that happening on the Florida Panthers' teams? There would be guys getting 10-game 'sussys' (suspensions) cuz guys would be coming off the bench."
The Sabres had to do something -- anything -- to restore a shred of their dignity Tuesday night. But was this it?
My first reaction to the Gilbert fight was probably as sarcastic as yours: That'll show the Devils how tough the Sabres are.
The whole thing seemed pointless. All it did was raise more questions. The biggest: If the Sabres were going to put Gilbert on the ice for some staged pugilism on Tuesday after getting shredded as a bunch of cowardly lions, why didn't Ruff do it over the last 15 minutes on Sunday -- against the team that actually took Thompson out?
Ruff said he wasn't discussing his thoughts on Sunday. But the window he cracked open for us was that he reacted when he saw Olivier -- the NHL's fighting major leader -- in the Columbus starting lineup.
"I didn't know what they had in mind," Ruff said. "Maybe they watched the film and said, 'Let's go after them right off the bat.' Or Olivier is just going to run somebody, and he's a tough character."
"One thing that I've never questioned was the care everybody in this room has for each other," Gilbert said. "And I've been other places where it's just not the case."
Gilbert wasn't giving up much about the why or when of the fight. Presented with the notion the team has been savaged across the continent, Gilbert simply said, "I didn't really know that. We're a tight group in here, and as a team, I think we wanted to show that and respond to that."
Buffalo Sabres defenseman Dennis Gilbert (8) fights with Columbus Blue Jackets right wing Mathieu Olivier (24) at the beginning of the first period at KeyBank Center on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025.
Joed Viera/Buffalo News
Olivier got three or four rights in, so he got the decision on the fight. Gilbert, however, had far more impact on Buffalo's 3-2 victory, with a lovely shot-pass assistant to Tuch in the second period and two key blocked shots later in the third to help seal a fourth straight win for the Sabres for the first time since January, 2023.
You would like Gilbert serving his role on this team if he was from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. The fact he's from good ol' St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute on Kenmore Avenue makes moments like these that much more cool.
Gilbert was 10 on that February night nearly 18 years ago when Peters, Adam Mair and Patrick Kaleta hopped the same boards he sits behind now to send the Ottawa Senators a message no one in this town will ever forget. Moments like that are what made Sunday's so unsavory.
Said Tuch: "To have a guy like Dennis Gilbert, hometown kid who loves putting on that jersey every single night, going toe to toe at center ice with one of the toughest guys ... in the league just shows how much heart I think we have in this room and and I think he's a big reason why we won that game tonight. He's a hell of a teammate and a hell of a person."
Respect Gilbert for what he did? Absolutely.
Does it make up for the disgrace of Sunday? Absolutely not.
The Sabres are winning games and playing much better hockey than they were in December. But does this little staged affair prove they're no longer pushovers?
Not buying it. They shouldn't be selling it.
