'He's my best friend' | Asplund, Olofsson connect to earn OT win

Rasmus Asplund and Victor Olofsson have grown up together. They arrived in Buffalo from Sweden at the same time in 2018. They spent their first year in North America as linemates in Rochester. Olofsson made the jump to the NHL out of training camp in 2019; Asplund joined him a month later.
To simply call them linemates does not do their relationship justice.
"He's my best friend," Asplund said of Olofsson earlier this month. "He probably knows more about me than my parents right now."

It is no surprise, then, that Olofsson knew to look for Asplund at the back side of the net after cutting toward two defenders in overtime against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday. Olofsson sent a pass through the crease as he fell to the ice and Asplund buried it to clinch a 4-3 victory.

The goal was Asplund's second of the night, marking the first multi-goal effort of his NHL career. He redirected all the credit to Olofsson.
"That was all Olie there," Asplund said. "I was just on the back side of the net and then tapped it in. So, it's his goal. I was just happy to be able to finish it off for him there."
The Sabres improved to 5-1-1 with the win, which opened a four-game road trip on the West Coast that continues in Los Angeles on Sunday. It was a different sort of victory than the four that came before it, one that required the Sabres to dig in their heels on a night when they lacked their best and surrendered a 3-0 lead.
In the end, they were able to count on two players who have been among their most reliable this season. Asplund has been lauded for his two-way work ethic, a model of the aggressive identity that coach Don Granato is working to implement. Olofsson has been the steady contributor, upping his team-leading point total to eight (4+4) with his two-assist outing against the Ducks.
"He is working his ass off every day to become better and I think this year you can see that, the fire in his eyes again a little bit," Asplund said. "Maybe that's been gone for a little bit, I don't know.
"But, I mean, you can see just how (much) fun he has out there and how he wants to make plays, wants to be a player that makes a difference out there. I think he really has been finding that game again and it's great for him and it's great for the team."

It took a confident play from Olofsson to make the winning goal possible. Asplund sent him into the offensive zone with a stretch pass up the right-wing side. Olofsson cut sharply toward Ducks forward Trevor Zegras, deking his way into the slot while evading the reach of defenseman Jamie Drysdale, who attempted to strip the puck from behind.
Asplund simply followed Olofsson up the ice and awaited the pass.
"He attacked the D right away," Asplund said. "So, it was easy for me to just keep my speed and I ended up on the back side of the net."
Olofsson also assisted on Asplund's first goal. Asplund, usually the net-front man on the power play, found himself in Olofsson's spot on right half wall. Olofsson was on the opposite side and worked the puck up to the point for Rasmus Dahlin, who teed up a one-time shot for Asplund's first power-play goal in the NHL.

The shot was Olofsson-esque.
"It's always nice to have that type of camaraderie," Granato said. "Those guys, they're such good friends and good people to everybody so I think even that friendship will feed off on others and carry into the rest of the group."

Setting the standard

The Ducks made a push out of the gate, outshooting the Sabres 17-12 during the first period. The Sabres still managed to build a 3-0 lead by midway through the second period on the strength of goals from Asplund, Zemgus Girgensons, and Arttu Ruotsalainen.
That lead evaporated before long. Troy Terry and Adam Henrique scored goals in the second period to trim the deficit to one and Simon Benoit completed the comeback at 5:59 of the third. The Sabres were outshot 10-1 over the final 20 minutes and 37-29 overall.
It was far from an ideal performance from an execution standpoint. But Granato found encouragement in the way players navigated the off night.
"The chatter on the bench was outstanding," Granato said. "I mean, we clearly were having trouble executing simple stuff tonight. And there was no yelling at teammates, there was no getting down on teammates. It was more supporting, picking up. I mean, we never lost the competitiveness."

While shots were lopsided in the third period, the Ducks had just one high-danger attempt at 5-on-5 according to Natural Stat Trick. They were credited with 14 during the first two periods.
"As coaches, you want your players to play to a certain standard and our guys took that personal, a personal standard," Granato said. "They weren't playing to their personal standard. So, we didn't have to do as much coaching in that regard.
"I mean, it was tough to watch at times because you've got guys just having a tough time executing. But collectively they felt, 'OK, we're not up to our standard.' They hunkered down, supported each other."

Anderson stays hot

Craig Anderson 34 saves for his fourth victory of the season. He made 17 saves in the first period, including a sprawling stop during the final minute that preserved a 1-0 lead into intermission.
"You can't overstate that," Granato said. "He was calm and confident. He read the shooters in situations moments before they were transpiring. He was key and I think our guys - certainly they did, they rallied around that."

Up next

The road trip continues in Los Angeles on Sunday. Coverage on MSG begins at 3:30 p.m. The puck drops at 4.