The Buffalo Sabres’ 3-2 shootout win against the Calgary Flames wasn’t pretty. It involved blowing a 2-0 lead and getting out-chanced 13-5 at five-on-five in the third period. But points matter more than aesthetics, and the Sabres got 2 more to extend their winning streak to three games and improve their record to 7-7-1.
“Those are the types of games you have to win,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said.
A week ago, this team was wrapped up in a three-game losing streak and slipping in the standings. It has since dominated the Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers in blowout wins, then ground out a win against the Flames on Saturday. With games against the Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers up next, the Sabres have a chance to continue their winning streak and get their points percentage above .500 for the first time in a topsy-turvy season. In 15 games, the Sabres already have two three-game losing streaks to go along with their two three-game winning streaks. Monday, they will try to win four straight for the first time since the 2022-23 season.
Sabres center Tage Thompson said the key for this team is managing its emotions. Its players have shown they can fight back when they have ground to gain in the standings. But how they respond to their wins is just as important. He said they need to avoid the trap of trying to play a prettier game just because things have been going their way lately. Simpler hockey has been working, whether it’s more dump-ins at the offensive blue line or taking the first easy play out of their own zone.
“The process is what gets us those results,” Thompson said. “We’re not really looking at those results and trying to chase those. Obviously, those are the end goal, but it’s what’s going to get us there. If we don’t change anything and just plug along the same way and just kind of continue to grind teams down, usually they’ve been breaking and we get four or five goals in one period or whatever. Just frustrating teams and making it hard for them.”
Now that the Sabres are back to .500, what are the biggest signs of improvement that could help them sustain this winning streak?
1. Special teams improvement
Ruff was fed up with Buffalo’s special teams play after the loss to the Detroit Red Wings a week ago. The Sabres had two short-handed goals against and went 0-for-2 on the power play.Since then, the special teams play has found a groove. The Sabres have four power-play goals during this three-game winning streak and have not allowed a goal on the penalty kill. In each game, the special teams have been critical. Late in overtime of the Flames win, the Sabres killed off a four-on-three power play. Early penalty kills against the Rangers helped the Sabres pull away in that 6-1 win. They’ve killed off 10 straight penalties during this stretch and are 6-1 this season when they don’t allow a power-play goal.
“We’ve talked about it a lot lately,” Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram said. “You look up and down the leaderboard in the NHL, and most of the best teams in the league have good special teams. It’s something we strive for, and I feel like everyone has been putting in a lot of work with it, whether it’s watching video or talking to the coaches, whatever it might be, just trying to get it sorted out. It’s a good feeling to have things starting to come together, but we have to keep it going year-round.”
The Sabres also got their first power-play goal from Thompson against the Flames. The fact he has 10 goals this season and only one has come on the power play is a good sign of what type of positive regression he could be in for if the power play gets on a roll.
2. Lineup changes
Ruff has kept players on their toes with some lineup changes this week. Mattias Samuelsson and Henri Jokiharju have sat out the past three games, and Dennis Gilbert and Jacob Bryson provided a jolt in the arm for the lineup. Gilbert’s physical style is something the Sabres can use throughout the season to give their blue line a different look in certain games.But he showed Saturday that he still has work to do to become an everyday player. He took three penalties, and one contributed to Calgary’s first goal. Gilbert turned over the puck in the neutral zone and then got tied up with Justin Kirkland. The ref didn’t blow the whistle while the two were going at it, and the Flames scored when Matt Coronato snuck behind Buffalo’s defense.
Ruff mentioned that a couple of defensemen struggled against the Flames, so it’s possible he’ll go back to one or both of Samuelsson and Jokiharju for the next game. Whether that happens doesn’t change the fact that holding players accountable and creating internal competition is the best way to keep a team sharp. Ruff has been pushing the right buttons.
Doing so has also allowed him to play Bo Byram on the top pair with Rasmus Dahlin, which has been an effective pair. The Sabres have 51 percent of the expected goals with those two on the ice at five-on-five and are out-chancing teams 34-28. They create a ton of offense. That leads to them sometimes giving up chances the other way, but that pairing deserves time to grow together.
“It’s been getting better and better,” Byram said of playing with Dahlin. “You guys know, and it’s pretty evident out there, how good of a player he is. It makes my job pretty easy. I try to get him the puck when I can, and he’s pretty crafty out there. I feel like we’ve been defending hard and having pretty good gaps off the rush. Something we can keep building off, for sure.”
Byram played 32:34 on Saturday and has played a key role on the penalty kill. Playing with Dahlin seems to be bringing out the best in him. His expected goal share at five-on-five is 14 percentage points better with Dahlin than it is without him.
3. Signs of life from the second line
I’m not ready to say Buffalo’s second line is back, but that group looks a lot better with a healthy Zach Benson on the wing. Benson played through an ankle injury early in the season before Ruff decided to shut him down to get him back to 100 percent. He has two goals in three games since returning and has made an impact on that line with Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn. This season, the Sabres have 53 percent of the expected goals at five-on-five when those three are on the ice. They have 38 percent of the expected goals at five-on-five when Cozens and Quinn are on the ice together with someone other than Benson. Nine combined points between Cozens and Quinn in the first 15 games isn’t a strong start, but maybe Benson can spark something with that line.Either way, the Sabres are getting a bit more secondary scoring lately. Jason Zucker, Ryan McLeod and Jordan Greenway deserve some credit for that. And playing with a lead helps the Sabres roll four lines and get the fourth line of Beck Malenstyn, Peyton Krebs and Sam Lafferty more regularly involved.
4. Goaltending
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is starting to look like the goalie the Sabres got at the end of last season. The sample is small, but Luukkonen has been key to Buffalo’s three-game winning streak. He has a .955 save percentage in these games and made key saves in all three that helped turn games. He did it again against the Flames at the end of regulation and then in overtime and the shootout. According to Natural Stat Trick, Luukkonen is 14th in the league in goals saved above average. That’s impressive considering his workload and slow start to the season.“I want to be part of the solution here,” Luukkonen said. “I want to be one of the parts that help the team win.”