Sabres thoughts: Mattias Samuelsson’s big night, Alex Lyon’s heroics lead to win over Leafs
Samuelsson scored twice in the Sabres' 5-3 win over the Maple Leafs, giving the team four victories in its last five games.
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Mattias Samuelsson scored twice in the Sabres' 5-3 win over the Maple Leafs on Friday. Timothy T. Ludwig / Imagn Images
Last season, the Buffalo Sabres found a way to lose a lot of games like the one they played on Friday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The memories of those late-game collapses crept in when the Sabres’ 4-2 lead became 4-3 early in the third period. And when Rasmus Dahlin flipped a puck over the glass to hand the Leafs a power play with 4:37 left in the game, the game started to feel familiar.
But then the Sabres got a save. On a cross-ice play right at the net front, Alex Lyon slid across and made a clutch save on Matias Maccelli. Instead of a tie game, the Leafs were battling for a loose puck. A moment later, Owen Power intercepted a pass. Instead of clearing it the length of the ice, he patiently skated it up ice, waiting for a play to open up. He then threaded a perfect pass to Alex Tuch, who tucked a backhander between the legs of Anthony Stolarz for the insurance goal that helped the Sabres put a 5-3 win on ice.
“I think in those situations it’s about being in the moment and seizing the moment,” Lyon said. “That’s what good teams do in critical moments. They make the right decisions, they score goals or they make big saves. If you can do that over the course of a season, good things are going to happen.”
Good things have started to happen for this Sabres team. After starting the season 0-3, the Sabres have now won four out of their last five games. All of those games were against teams in the Atlantic Division, so the points were critical. When the team started winless, Tage Thompson was quick to point out that the world wasn’t ending and that the Sabres had a long season to play. He had a similarly stoic response to Buffalo’s recent stretch of wins.
“It’s a two-way street, right?” Thompson said. “We can’t get too down on ourselves when we’re 0-3. And we’re on a bit of a heater right now and can’t get too high on ourselves and forget what made you successful. The message is staying even keel.”
There’s a lot to like about the way the Sabres have played, though. They’re playing faster, scoring more and getting better play on special teams. Goaltending has been a constant strength, too. That’s allowed them to get back to .500 with a 4-4 record. Now the challenge is not falling back to where they were.
“We all kind of understand around the league who stands where and I think our fate is we’re going to have to fight and claw for everything we get, every point we get,” Lyon said. “We’re going to have to fight every night. Sometimes it callouses a team and hardens a team. That’s what’s happening in these situations. But I heard you asking questions about the first three and you have to let that scare you a little bit as well and to have that fear of slipping back into that is really important, because that’s what drives your details and daily habits.”
Here’s what else we saw in Buffalo’s win over Toronto.
1. Mattias Samuelsson scored twice in this game for the Sabres, something he never even did in his college career at Western Michigan. He came into the league with the profile of a future shutdown defenseman. Injuries have prevented him from reaching that potential, but he’s been one of Buffalo’s most consistent blueliners early in the year. The goals were a nice surprise on Friday, but Samuelsson was also plus-four in this game with four blocked shots. The Sabres have 54 percent of the expected goals when he’s on the ice at five-on-five this season, the best mark among Buffalo’s defensemen. And he’s showing more physicality than he did at any point in the last two seasons.
“I’m just playing with a little more confidence,” Samuelsson said. “When you don’t have confidence and you’re out there every other night, it can be tough sometimes to kind of find it on the fly. And if you’re playing with just a little bit of swagger and confidence in yourself, it can go a long way.”
If the Sabres get this version of Samuelsson all season, this blue line could develop into a strength of the team.
2. The Sabres started to get some big contributions from their best players. Thompson scored a goal and also had an assist on a pretty passing play that went from him to Zach Benson to Jiri Kulich, who finished with a one-timer. Then Tuch chipped in the clutch insurance goal late. Those two have started the season slowly by their standards, but the last few games have given some encouraging signs that they could be turning a corner.
3. Dahlin still hasn’t played to his usual level, though. He took that careless penalty late, and the Leafs had a 6-1 advantage in high-danger chances when he was on the ice at five-on-five. His five-on-five on-ice expected goal share has dipped below 50 percent for the season. There’s no reason to doubt that Dahlin is still the Sabres’ best player. He just hasn’t played like it this season.
4. Noah Ostlund struggled in his second game since his call-up. Toronto had a 6-0 advantage in high-danger chances during Ostlund’s five-on-five minutes. He was on the ice for two goals against and won only 37 percent of his faceoffs. The line of Jason Zucker, Ostlund and Jack Quinn might be one Lindy Ruff tinkers with.
5. Tyson Kozak left the game with a lower-body injury after just three shifts. He didn’t return to the game, and Ruff said he won’t be available for the second half of this back-to-back in Toronto and the team will likely need to call up a player from Rochester. This would be a tough loss. The Sabres had been controlling 61 percent of the expected goals when Kozak was on the ice at five-on-five this season. He was a trusted matchup player for Ruff and one of the players who stepped up in the absence of Josh Norris to give the Sabres some center depth. If the Sabres look to Rochester for reinforcements, 19-year-old Konsta Helenius is worth a call after a two-goal, two-assist game on Friday night.