A weekend trip to Las Vegas can be just what the doctor ordered to revitalize and drown one’s sorrows. The Buffalo Sabres certainly hope that’s the case when they visit Sin City to take on the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night.
To say it’s been a tough five weeks for Lindy Ruff’s squad would be an understatement. The Sabres, last in the Atlantic Division with 33 points, endured a 13-game losing streak (0-10-3) before defeating the New York Islanders, 7-1, heading into the holiday break on Dec. 23.
After returning with back-to-back wins over the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues, the Sabres are in the midst of another two-game skdi, including a crushing 6-5 overtime loss on Thursday against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver.
Buffalo led 3-0 midway through the second period in that one and, thanks in part to a Jason Zucker hat trick, looked in good shape with a 5-3 lead heading into the final 2 1/2 minutes. But Cale Makar scored on a one-timer with 2:26 remaining and Jonathan Drouin tied it with just eight seconds to go, setting the stage for Devon Toews’ game-winner on a breakaway 48 seconds into overtime.
The Sabres allowed three goals, two with the goalie pulled for an extra attacker, in the span of 3:14.
“You play a game like that, nine out of 10 times you’re going to win a hockey game,” Ruff said. “We played a helluva game. We battled hard. … You playing winning hockey the whole game. Just a little bit of composure at the end is what you needed.”
The Sabres will try to rebound against a Vegas team that is 11-2-0 since Dec. 1 and 16-4-0 at home overall.
The Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights come in off a 5-2 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, their seventh win in the past eight games.
Vegas, which has had its issues with slow starts this season, cruised to its 26th victory in just 38 games despite allowing a goal in the first 21 seconds and managing just four shots on goal in the first period.
Mark Stone scored the first of four consecutive goals for the Golden Knights on a redirect of a pass from former Sabre Jack Eichel 51 seconds into the second period and five different Vegas players scored a goal.
“We weren’t ready at the start,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy admitted. “We talked about it (at the first-period intermission). We started the second very well.”
That didn’t surprise forward Victor Olofsson.
“We have a lot of confidence,” Olofsson said. “We know that even if we don’t play a good period we can still bounce back. Feel like we’ve been doing that a lot this year. The calm in this group is pretty special.”
It will be Olofsson’s first game against the Sabres, a team that he played five-plus seasons and scored 90 goals with before signing a free-agent contract with Vegas last summer.
“There’s going to be a lot of familiar faces for me, obviously,” Olofsson said. “Spent a long time there and it’s going to be a special feeling for sure playing against those guys.”
–Field Level Media
