O'Reilly continued to step up in the absence of Jack Eichel, not only with his offense but in the defensive zone and the faceoff circle as well. From last night's Lexus Postgame Report:
O'Reilly has come to be known as a Swiss Army Knife of sorts during his three seasons in Buffalo, and he lived up to that reputation in every sense on Tuesday. On offense alone, he tallied a goal and an assist on the power play and tallied a team-high five shots.
Perhaps of equal importance was his impact both on the penalty kill and in the faceoff circle. He accumulated 4:10 of shorthanded ice time, second only to Rasmus Ristolainen, and blocked a heavy shot from Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman during a long 5-on-3 kill in the second period.
In the circle, O'Reilly won 25 of his 42 draws. It was the continuation of what has potential to be a historic season for the forward, who began the night with a league-leading 831 faceoffs won, on pace for the third-most wins by any player since the league began keeping faceoff stats in 1997-98.
"He does it all," said Sam Reinhart, who scored two goals on assists from O'Reilly. "I've been with him and Jack a lot lately, and they've both been unbelievable in the faceoff circle. That makes it so much easier as a winger, that makes it so much easier on everyone when you start with the puck.
"It's just little things like that, and the two-way game he has is something everyone can watch and learn from him."
In addition to a pair of goals from Reinhart and one from O'Reilly, Nicholas Baptiste found the back of the net in his first game since being recalled on Sunday and Scott Wilson scored his third goal in 10 games. Chad Johnson made 26 saves for his first home victory of the season.
