Though the Sabres have not been 10-wins-in-a-row hot, they’ve been very good since the beginning of December. Since Dec. 9, the Sabres are 16-3-1, most recently having beaten the Nashville Predators on the road 5-3.
Thursday night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens was critical for several reasons, biggest of which being that the Sabres entered just four points back of the Canadiens for the third spot in the Atlantic Division. The Sabres responded with a short offensive outburst that was enough to carry them to a huge 4-2 win.
The Redemption of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
The biggest story from this game is the performance of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. He was the difference on Thursday night, turning aside 32 of 34 shots from the Canadiens, allowing the Sabres to get the late empty net goal to put the game away.
Luukkonen has been outstanding in his last 10 games, finding a groove that many wondered if he would ever hit again. Aside from a four-goal performance against the Columbus Blue Jackets and a five-goal performance against the Minnesota Wild, Luukkonen has been outstanding.
He may not quite be the upper-echelon No.1 starter that everyone hoped for, but he has been excellent as part of a platoon effort. He’s been emerging as the starter of late, but it is nice to know that the Sabres have three viable options to turn to these days.
Let’s Talk About the Elephant in the Room
It is hard to complain and be critical of a team that has earned 33 of a possible 40 points in their past 20 games. Having said that, a clear issue has emerged. The Sabres jump out to big leads, then seem to stop pressuring and hope to hang on until the final buzzer.
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The Sabres jumped on the Canadiens in the first period and made it 3-0 just over two minutes into the second period. But from that point on, it was mostly the Canadiens applying the pressure. If not for the performance of Luukkonen, this may have been a very different result.
If there is one major complaint about the Sabres during this run, it is their inability to truly close out games until the final moments with an empty net. The Sabres need to start scoring backbreaker goals that take the pressure off rather than riding by the seat of their pants until an empty netter seals it.
The Potential of This Offense is Exciting
The thing that jumps out when you watch the Sabres is how quickly they can get on top of teams offensively. They score in bunches, building big leads that often sustain them until the end of the game. They are currently eighth in the league in goals for and 10th in goals for per game at 3.28.
This is being done with Josh Norris hurt yet again. Jason Zucker has been in and out of the lineup. The Sabres, as a whole, have the third-most man games lost this season with 234 (and counting). Yet they are still a top-10 offense despite the changes to the lineup and the dependence on one of the league’s youngest rosters.
It would behoove the Sabres to make a big move, but it is promising to know that the offense continues to be this good in the face of massive injury issues and a bottom-third power play unit. If those two things can level out, the Sabres – to quote the great Rick Jeanneret – could be “scary good.”
An Atlantic Push
The biggest development from this game is that the Sabres are now just two points back of the Canadiens for third in the Atlantic Division. As a matter of fact, the Sabres are just six points back of first in the Atlantic. If they can keep this pace and the Detroit Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning cool off a bit, the Sabres could gain ground.
At the beginning of December, it was inconceivable to think that the Sabres could be within distance of a Wild Card spot, let alone a place in the Atlantic Division playoff positioning. Hopefully, the Sabres can take this momentum into the Olympic break, get healthy, and come out ready to make a push down the stretch.
