When was the last time there was this much excitement for a Buffalo Sabres home game outside of opening night? It's been a while in Buffalo.
Time and time again it's been said that in the NHL you pretty much know what kind of team you have by Thanksgiving and when the Sabres hit the KeyBank Center ice tonight to take on the Philadelphia Flyers, the team that Sabreland will be cheering for sits fourth in the Eastern conference. Buffalo has a 13-6-2 record, is 10-2-2 since October 20 and is riding a six-game winning streak.
That's the record. But, what kind of team is Buffalo?
A resilient one, we know that much. During this streak, their longest since 2010, the Sabres have overcome third period deficits in five of those six games and four of those wins have come in overtime or the shootout. They've erased a two-goal deficit with less than three minutes to play in one game and overcame a three-goal hole against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night.
They're also a team that's been getting solid goaltending. The overall goalies stats won't wow you, but what Carter Hutton (and Linus Ullmark for a game) has been able to do is keep his team in the game while the skaters in front of him found their legs. Very few of the 16 goals allowed during this streak have been due to goaltender miscues as there have been breakdowns and mistakes up and down the lineup that have provided the opposition with a multitude of glorious scoring opportunities on a nightly basis.
Coming up with big saves at crucial times has helped the Sabres own the third period, and for the last four games most of the second period as well. During this six-game stretch Buffalo has been outshot by a combined 85-57 in the first period and 77-54 in the second. They've come out of those frames with an even goal differential in the first (7-7) but have been outscored by an 8-4 margin in the second. What Buffalo has been able to do during this streak is turn the game around in the third period as they've outshot their oppoinents by a 71-46 margin and have outscored them 7-1. Plus, in the last four wins against heavyweights Tampa, Winnipeg and Minnesota as well as Pittsburgh, the Sabres have not allowed a third period goal and have not allowed a goal past the 7:10 mark of the second period in those games.
On the offensive side of the equation, Jeff Skinner held the fort as the rest of his teammates slowly woke up while captain Jack Eichel has played the role of feeder. Skinner's 14 goals ties him for third in the league while Eichel is tied for sixth in the league with 19 assists. Secondary scoring has picked up dating back to the beginning of this streak and they've been getting plenty of help from an active defense. Rasmus Ristolainen's overtime winner against Montreal kicked off a spurt where the d-corps has contributed six goals in six games with two d-men scoring in each of the last two games. There's no better example of an active defense than Rasmus Dahlin feeding Jake McCabe at the circles:
(via NHL.com)
Two more defensemen helped close the 4-1 gap at Pittsburgh as Zach Bogosian and Casey Nelson, the last of the d-corps to score a goal, lit the lamp.
The Sabres are an incredibly talented team that's learning to play the game and are being allowed to make mistakes along the way. Dahlin vs. the Penguins is a perfect example of a player that was carrying an awful -4 rating through the first 25 minutes but never strayed from his game. Ristolainen has had plenty of gaffes, but for 25+ minutes/game during this streak has a goal and four assists and is a plus-3.
Buffalo also boasts the sixth-best penalty kill in the league and has a fourth line anchored by Zemgus Girgensons and Johan Larsson that has either skated with or defensively dominated nearly every line thrown at them for much of this streak.
With all of that in mind, Buffalo's task at hand will be to avoid a possible letdown tonight as they come home from a road trip which usually means a tough game. There's a perfect storm brewing as the Sabres are brimming with confidence and anxious to continue the streak in front of a home crowd that hasn't had a Sabres game at KeyBank Center in a little while. The adrenaline level will be high against a manic Flyers team that had a six-game point-streak (5-0-1) before slumping in their present three-game losing streak (0-2-1) so this has all the makings of a classic trap-game.
The Flyers and Sabres have a long history that dates back to the 1975 Stanley Cup Final. Philly was a buzzkill then as goalie Bernie Parent and the Broad Street Bullies took down the Sabres and the French Connection that year. The last time Buffalo made the playoffs in 2011 it was Philadelphia that ousted them in the first round just after Terry Pegula bought the Sabres. Ironically, Buffalo had to overcome a two-goal deficit against the Flyers in the second-to-last game of the season to make the playoffs as Nathan Gerbe's game-tying spin-o-rama goal would provide Buffalo with the one point they needed (via Moky):
For those heading to the game, it should be a blast as the night before Thanksgiving, the biggest bar night of the year, usually brings in a raucous crowd no matter how the Sabres are playing. The rest of us will be watching NBCSN. It will be the Sabres second game in the national spotlight, the first one being a 2-1 win at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning just over a week ago.
Funny, it seems like they've been away longer than that.
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