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On Western NY Conference, The Godfather, OlofssGun

October 15, 2018, 8:51 PM ET [3 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT
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Welcome back, Zach Bogosian











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On Tuesday night, Buffalo Sabres and Vegas Knights will faceoff for the second time in the past eight days. The Sabres defeated the Knights 4-2 in Buffalo on October 8.

Sabres-v-Knights is second game of a five-game Pacific Division road trip. Evander Kane and the San Jose Sharks will host Jack Eichel and the Sabres on Thursday. The Sabres play a matinee against the LA Kings

The Sabres enter Tuesday night’s struggle on The Strip with a very impressive 6-0-1 record in their last seven road games against Pacific Division opponents, including wins in each of their last five games, plus, shutouts in each of their last three (January 23 at Edmonton, January 25 at Vancouver and October 13 at Arizona).





With wins in each of their last five road games against Western Conference teams, the Sabres are smack dab in the middle of their best Western Conference road stretch since January 6 to October 8, 2011 (5-0-0 record).

A win in Vegas will give Buffalo its first ever six-game winning streak against the Western/Campbell Conference. An OT loss would give the Sabres their fifth road point streak of at least six games against the western conference and the first since the team tied a franchise high with points in seven straight games from December 28, 2010 to October 8, 2011 (6-0-1).

Has there been a better time for the Sabres to earn respect around the NHL? If they knock off Western Conference monsters, it will go a long way towards pumping their club full of confidence.














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Rookie sensation Rasmus Dahlin scored his first NHL goal on Saturday night in Arizona, becoming the second-youngest player (18 years, 183 days) in Buffalo Sabres franchise history to score a goal, behind only Turgeon (Oct. 21, 1987 vs. Hartford). Dahlin was the first overall pick in 2018. Turgeon was the first overall pick of the Sabres in 1987.

Dahlin was the youngest defenseman in 23 years to score an NHL goal. His goal came exactly 34 years after Doug Bodger (18 years, 117 days) became the youngest defenseman in the expansion era (since 1967-68) to score his first NHL goal (October 13, 1984).

With his goal, Dahlin also became the third-youngest defenseman in NHL history to record a game-winning goal, trailing only Craig Wolanin of the New Jersey Devils (12/9/85 at Minnesota) and Red Garrett of the New York Rangers (12/25/42 at Detroit).


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When Buffalo Sabres training camp opened, Jack Eichel called call Patrik Berglund "The Godfather" of the Swedish Mafia. With soo many Swedish born players on Buffalo's training camp roster, there had to be a leader of the pack.

Patrik Berglund will play in his 700th NHL game in Vegas. Berglund will become just 37th Swedish player to be enshrined in the 700 Club.

Berglund, 30, was the 25th overall pick of the 2006 NHL Draft by the St. Louis Blues. Berglund was traded to the Sabres by the St. Louis Blues with Vladimir Sobotka, Tage Thompson, a *conditional first round draft choice and St. Louis' 2nd-round pick in 2021 NHL Draft for Ryan O'Reilly, July 1, 2018.

*(If St. Louis' 2019 1st round pick ends up being a top 10 pick, the Blues have the option to keep the 2019 1st round pick and send Buffalo their 2020 1st round pick instead.)

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Congratulations to Sabres prospect forward Victor Olofsson, who was named the American Hockey League Player of The Week.

In three games played last week, the sniping Swedish right winger has scored 3 goals and 4 assists. Olofsson scored the game winner in back to back games on Saturday and Sunday. He also has an overtime goal.

In 5 games played this season, Olofsson has scored 3 goals and 5 assists. He has 5 power play points. Olofsson is leading the Amerks in scoring.




A seventh-round choice by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2014 NHL Draft, Olofsson is in his first season of play in North America after 200 games in the Swedish Elite League, where he scored an SEL-best 27 goals for Frolunda in 2017-18. Olofsson and Rasmus Dahlin were teammates at Frolunda and will likely be teammates again in Buffalo in the very near future.



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Zach Bogosian practiced in Vegas on Monday He will likely make his season debut agenst the Kinghts on Tuesday night.

Bogosian has missed the first 5 games of the season with a lower body injury suffered during an exhibition game on September 26.

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