BUFFALO, N.Y. — A game against the New York Islanders isn’t usually what you want if you’re a team struggling to find offense the way the Buffalo Sabres have been. But on Saturday night, the Sabres got the type of offensive performance they’ve been waiting for, posting 43 shots and skating to a convincing 3-1 win over the typically stingy Islanders.
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This looked like a typical Sabres-Islanders game at the start. The Islanders are a team comfortable playing a defensive game and trying to win 2-1. In three games against the Islanders last season, the Sabres won 3-2, lost 3-2 and won 2-0. Last week, they lost to the Islanders 3-2.
But Buffalo had a few things working in its favor in this game. One is the Islanders were on the second game of a back-to-back. The other is that they had backup goalie Semyon Varlamov in net. He’s not a slouch, but no team is going to complain about avoiding Ilya Sorokin.
It may not have mattered who was in net the way the Sabres played Saturday. After four uneven games to start the season, the Sabres had season highs at five-on-five with 17 high-danger chances, 64 shot attempts and 33 shots on goal. It took until the 27th shot for the Sabres to find the back of the net, but their offensive game was relentless throughout. Don Granato was quick to point out that the Sabres had traffic in front of the net on all three goals, a point of emphasis coming into the game.
“We stuck with our game as good as I’ve ever seen us stick with our game,” said Eric Comrie, who stopped 24 of 25 Islanders shots in his first start of the season.
“Not only that. We still have more in the tank. We can score more goals.”
How’d it happen? Here are some takeaways from the win.
1. Granato mixed up the lines prior to this game and got some strong results. Casey Mittelstadt was back between Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch, the line Buffalo finished last season with. That left Jordan Greenway playing left wing on a line with Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens. Those top two lines are more balanced and carried the offense in this game.
Mittelstadt got the offense going with two assists. On the Sabres’ first goal, Mittelstadt drove the middle of the ice and set up Skinner with a perfect pass on a one-timer. On the second goal, he patiently bought time and found Mattias Samuelsson, who scored his third career goal.
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“Mittsy is an unbelievable player,” Samuelsson said. “The puck seems like it’s on a string at times. Great vision making plays. He has so much swagger and confidence. You noticed it at the end of last year when (Thompson) was a little banged up and he filled in in his spot. He has some swagger to his game, and it’s all out right now. He’s a hell of a player.”
Mittelstadt has become Buffalo’s best playmaker. Since Feb. 1, Mittelstadt leads the Sabres in assists (26), primary assists (15) and is tied for the lead in points (35). That’s a big enough sample size to suggest he deserves to stay between Skinner and Tuch for a bit longer.
2. It will be even easier to keep Mittelstadt between Skinner and Tuch when the Thompson line looks as good as it did Saturday, too. Thompson had 10 shots on goal against the Islanders and 14 shot attempts. Cozens had six shots on goal and 11 shot attempts. The Sabres had 76 percent of the shot attempts and outchanced the Islanders 13-3 when that line was on the ice at five-on-five. Cozens scored, and Thompson could have gotten on the board on multiple occasions.
“Every time we went out there, I feel like we had a chance to score,” Cozens said.
3. Rasmus Dahlin has been dominant to start the season, especially in his own end. He led the team in ice time again Saturday, and the Sabres had 75 percent of the shot attempts when he was on the ice. He has five assists in five games, so his offensive game has been plenty good. But it’s the way he’s able to shut down opponents and transition plays that makes him Buffalo’s most consistently valuable player.
“It’s the subtleties of defending for him,” Granato said. “We all have an appreciation for his offensive skill, but the way he takes time and space away from people is incredible.”
4. Tuch had his second career fight in this game. Adam Pelech took a run at Skinner in the second period, and Tuch didn’t hesitate to jump in and drop the gloves. He got the better of Pelech in the fight and, more importantly, injected energy into a crowd that needed it. Tuch’s had a slow start to the season but reminded everyone of the leadership he can bring. He needs to get the offense going, but that was a constructive way to get the frustration out in the meantime.
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5. If Comrie can deliver more games like this one, that could be a huge boost to Buffalo’s goalie situation. He was off to a strong start a season ago before he got hurt in November and ended up missing two months. He never got back into a groove after that. Then the Sabres played Devon Levi for the first four games this season, so Comrie had to sit and wait. Levi got a game off after he missed practice Friday with a lower-body injury. Levi was on the ice at the morning skate Saturday, but Comrie got to step in and provide needed relief for the rookie.
The Islanders had only 25 shots, but Comrie turned away 24 of them, including all nine high-danger shot attempts. The only goal came late in the game on a deflection when the Sabres were already up 3-0.
Levi shouldn’t need to be overworked as a rookie. The Sabres need another goalie to take some of the pressure off. It’s just one game against the Islanders, but this was a promising showing from Comrie. It might not be a bad idea for Buffalo to go back to Comrie on Monday against the Montreal Canadiens to give Levi extra rest.
(Top photo of Casey Mittelstadt shooting the puck against Semyon Varlamov: Mark Konezny / USA Today)
