'He was relentless' | Skinner's career outing leads Sabres over Habs

MONTREAL -Jeff Skinner was unaware he had completed his sixth career hat trick as the red light flashed inside a nearly empty Bell Center on Sunday afternoon.
Skinner had pounced on a turnover in the neutral zone and taken off for the Montreal goal with nothing but open ice in front of him. Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry harassed him from behind, eventually dragging Skinner to the ice and sending the puck in off the Sabres forward's skate.
"I got a little bit of a lucky bounce there," Skinner said. "But I guess I'll take it."

It took more than luck to produce the sort of day Skinner had in Montreal. He finished with a career-high four goals and five points, leading the Sabres - fittingly - to a 5-3 win.
Skinner had the 14th four-goal game in Sabres history and only the fourth this century, joining Miroslav Satan (Feb. 16, 2004), Thomas Vanek (April 10, 2010), and Jack Eichel (Nov. 16, 2019.).
It was a career game from a player who has four seasons of 30-plus goals on his resume. Skinner has 20 after Sunday's contest, the highest total on the Sabres.
Sabres coach Don Granato has lauded Skinner's habits since training camp, suggesting a performance like Sunday's may have only been a matter of time.
"Tonight, things worked out as they could have on a couple nights earlier in the year," Granato said. "I mean, he could've had multiple-goal games many nights, or three-goal games many nights already. So, it was great to see it come through tonight."
Skinner scored in just about every way possible. His first goal - which put the Sabres on the board just 3:41 into the contest - came on a deflection of a Casey Fitzgerald shot from the point.

Mike Hoffman tied the game, 1-1, early in the second period. It was Skinner who answered with the tying goal, this time utilizing an Alex Tuch screen to beat goaltender Sam Montembeault from the left faceoff circle.

Skinner's hat trick goal - when he was dragged to the ice by Petry - put the Sabres ahead, 4-3, in the third period. He cut to the front of the net and buried a backhand shot for his fourth goal with 1:46 remaining.

"He was all over the puck," Tage Thompson, who centered a line with Skinner and Tuch, said. "He was relentless. I thought our line did a good job of hounding their D, making them force turnovers. When Skinny gets the puck in the slot, he's pretty dangerous."
The performance was the continuation of a bounce-back campaign from Skinner, who had seven goals in 53 games last season while averaging a career-low 14:31 in ice time. It was an outlier season from one of the NHL's most consistent goal scorers during the past decade.
Asked what a day like Sunday meant, he shifted the focus to the outcome.

"It's nice," he said. "Anytime you can contribute to the team's success, it's a good feeling. It's why you play the game. To be able to contribute to a win today is a good feeling and you take that into the next game to try to do it again."

Krebs to Thompson

Granato touted Peyton Krebs' vision when asked pregame what the 21-year-old has added to the top power-play unit.
"He processes potential options, calculates them," Granato said. "He reads plays. … He has a feel for what his options are and he's got some deception as well."
Krebs provided an illustration against the Canadiens, passing up his own one-time shot on a feed from Skinner and instead delivering an exta pass to set up Thompson's tying goal.

Krebs has six points (3+3) in 13 games with the Sabres.

17 in 15

Tuch tallied three assists for his first three-point game with the Sabres. He leads the team with 17 points in 15 games since debuting on Dec. 29.

Up next

The Sabres host the New York Islanders on Tuesday to open a three-game homestand at KeyBank Center. Tickets are available here.
Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. The puck drops at 7.