When leaving Erie Insurance Arena last night after the Erie Otters dismantled the Sarnia Sting 7-0 in the OHL playoffs, the first thing I did when getting into the car was turn on the radio to catch the final five minutes of the Buffalo/Chicago Blackhawks game. I was aware that the Hawks jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and had left the arena knowing that the game was knotted 2-2.
Barely had the car started when I heard the voice of Rick Jeanneret call Marcus Foligno's third period goal that put the Sabres up 3-2. A sharp pang of anxiety quickly rippled through and some nervousness settled in until Hawks captain Jonathan Toews scored two goals in 47 seconds to pull out the victory for Chicago. As a Sabres fan on Interstate 90, I was part of a collective sigh as the final horn sounded.
There was plenty of Sabres regalia for the Otters/Sting game, probably second only to the number of Connor McDavid jerseys in the crowd as plenty of Sabres fans made it down for the game. Next to me was a young couple from Cheektowaga and the next row up behind them was a gentleman named Ted with his two teenaged sons. They were from Buffalo as well.
Last year when I and my son went there to catch the Otters play the London Knights, we were a few rows from the ice on the faceoff dot. It was great catching some action up close, and you could the see the presence McDavid had on the ice. He had five assists that night in a 7-2 Otters victory against a Knights team that had Sabres d-prospects Nikita Zadorov and Brady Austin.
Unlike last year, however, I was situated higher up last night with a full view of the ice surface and regardless of which season, there was a huge adrenaline rush that emanated from the crowd every time McDavid got the puck, especially when he took it from behind the net. When Barrie Colts head coach and Hockey Hall of Famer Dale Hawerchuk says that McDavid skates like Bobby Orr, you kind of get the impression that he knows what he's talking about.
I never saw Orr live, but I do remember seeing Gilbert Perreault gather the puck behind the net and turn it up ice. It was effortless skating, just gliding over the ice surface. I still remember the adrenaline rush I got as a kid watching him play.
And when McDavid took a pass from Remi Elie off the boards and headed in with a head of steam, the outcome was a given. You were left to simply shake your head at everything about his goal and just how good he is. That was the reaction from everyone around, including a number of scouts sitting directly behind me.
With a thoroughbred in front of you, and the Sabres in the position they're in, how can you not "think too much about him" possibly wearing the Blue and Gold. Even if you're a GM like the Sabres Tim Murray who's logged over 20 years as a scout.
There were other players on the ice including Sabres prospect, Nick Baptiste. A third round pick of the former regime in Buffalo, Baptiste was one of Murray's early signings and it shows just how much the new GM thought of him and his play. He was on a line with 2015 draft eligible, Ryan Strome, whom many consider a potential third overall pick behind McDavid and Boston University phenom Jack Eichel.
Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com has always mentioned Baptiste's strong two-way game and his hard skating in all three zones. Baker had also mentioned that even when he's not hitting the score sheet the other parts of his game are always there and last night was a perfect example of that.
Baptiste seemed a bit tentative last night and somewhat disconnected in the offensive zone for most of the first period. Although not fully engaged he did have a couple of plays that affected the game early on. Midway through the first period he skated hard on the back check to break up a golden two-on-one for Sarnia. And with Erie on the powerplay, he won the draw cleanly and got the puck to defenseman Travis Dermott who sent it to McDavid on the half-wall. McDavid found Strome in a seam and the game was 1-0. You couldn't have drawn it up better.
The Otters came out in the second period on the powerplay and Dermott would find Baptiste in the slot with plenty of ice. Baptiste blasted a hard slap shot past Sarnia's Taylor Dupuis to make it 2-0 just 27 seconds into the second period. Four and a half minutes later, Strome fed Baptiste who wired a wicked wrister top-shelf.
Baptiste would finish the game with two goals and an assist and was named the game's second star.
It's been a long, exhausting season full of extreme emotions as the Sabres are about to conclude the worst two-year stretch in their history. At the end of the long, dark tunnel is a light that's getting brighter. Even if they miss out on McDavid, that light is not a train, it's a fresh start and he beginning of a journey.
Four more games for Buffalo, and a spin of the draft wheel will go a long way in determining what kind of journey we'll be on.
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