'We know how to do it' | Sabres adjust, battle back to beat Hurricanes

Don Granato summed the up the current stretch of the Sabres' schedule, with games against the Eastern Conference's top teams on an every-other-night basis, in one short sentence.
"You know it's a daunting task ahead each and every night," he said.
The challenge became even more intimidating on Tuesday when Jesper Fast scored to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 1-0 lead late in the first period at KeyBank Center. The Hurricanes - the NHL's best team at preventing goals - were 34-3-6 when scoring first.

Intimidating, but not insurmountable - not for a group that has consistently gone toe to toe with the NHL's top teams for over a month. The Sabres pulled ahead during a dominant second period, then broke a third-period tie to earn a 4-2 victory.
"We had to adjust a little bit," Rasmus Dahlin said. "We're a good team, so we know how to do it."

The Sabres are now 10-4-3 since the beginning of March. That run includes wins over Minnesota, Vegas, Toronto (twice), Pittsburgh, and Nashville - all of which occupied playoff spots as of Tuesday.
The Hurricanes led the Metropolitan Division with 98 points, a testament to their lockdown game. Granato admitted it took time for the Sabres to adjust to the Hurricanes' willingness to consistently play north, with defensemen lofting pucks out of their own zone for forwards to skate into.
The Sabres were held without a shot until 9:09 into the contest, by which time the Hurricanes had 10. Craig Anderson made difficult saves to keep the game scoreless - including an early breakaway stop on Tony DeAngelo - until Fast got in alone and scored with 5:02 left in the period.
"We were real sloppy in the first," Granato said. "I thought we got to our game in the second period, got our legs going a little bit and actually established the pace in the second period which was great."

Tage Thompson found Jeff Skinner on a 2-on-1 rush early in the second period for the Sabres' first goal. Casey Mittelstadt - who had hit the post on an attempt from the slot during the first period - beat goalie Frederik Andersen with a shot across his body from the right wing to build a 2-1 lead.
Carolina answered with another push to begin the third period, drawing even with an early goal from Nino Niederreiter. But the Sabres were able to adjust on the fly once again.
"I feel we're super confident as a group right now," Victor Olofsson said. "Even when they scored at 2-2, we just kind of settled down a little bit and just kept it a little bit more simple."
Olofsson scored the go-ahead goal with 7:52 remaining, the product of an incredible play by Dahlin to bat the puck down out of mid-air at the blue line and immediately find the winger alone on the opposite side of the offensive zone.
Dylan Cozens provided an insurance goal on the power play, fighting to the middle and burying his own rebound.

"We give up a goal but we still stayed on it," Granato said. "Our confidence didn't break."
Granato referred to the Sabres' current stretch Tuesday morning as a "phenomenal" opportunity for a young team still hellbent on improving with 11 games to go. The schedule continues with a four-game road trip against top-tier teams in Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay, and Toronto.
The result on Tuesday was more evidence that the Sabres are embracing the task.
"Our guys are showing progress," Granato said. "And that's what we wanted from day one."

Olofsson comes through

Olofsson has 16 goals this season and nine in 17 games since the beginning of March. His latest came from a familiar location - the right faceoff circle, from where he has buried many a one-timer.
He had plenty of time to settle the puck and pick his spot on this occasion, thank to the brilliant play by Dahlin at the blue line.

"When he's in his office, you have to give him the puck, he knows what to do down there," Dahlin said. "So, great shot by him, huge goal."
It was, Granato pointed out, one of multiple impact plays Olofsson made throughout the night. He set up the Mittelstadt shot off the post that could have put the Sabres ahead in the first period. Granato felt Olofsson's pressure on the puck cleared room for Cozens' power-play goal.
"He did three or four real subtle things and competitive things that were nice to see," Granato said. "It's nice to see him. He's put the work in. He's had to battle an injury much longer than meets the eye, really, to get to this point and so it's nice to see him get rewarded with production."

Déjà vu from Thompson

Granato likened the 2-on-1 feed from Thompson - which looked to be a prime shooting opportunity for the Sabres' leading goal scorer - to a play from their time together with the U.S. National Team Development Program.

"I mean, he's a 30-goal scorer, he's staring right at the net, and he still has the presence to manipulate and make that play," Granato said. "I saw him do that one day with Auston Matthews in Saint Paul, Minnesota when I had both of those two and he did almost the same thing. He drew everyone in and laid it to Auston for basically a tap-in empty-net goal. It reminded me of that one. Déjà vu."

Up next

The Sabres visit the Hurricanes to open a four-game road trip on Thursday. The game will be broadcast exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.