Back from Olympics, Thompson leads Sabres to win over Devils

NEWARK, N.J. – Tage Thompson emerged from the snowy streets of New Jersey and onto the Buffalo Sabres’ team bus Wednesday morning, just after it had begun to pull away from the team hotel to head to the rink.

His slight tardiness was fodder for a few chirps from teammates, but understandable given the circumstances.

“Didn’t expect it,” his linemate, Peyton Krebs, said of Thompson’s attendance at the morning skate.  “It kind of shows the character of the guy and how bad he wants to help us win here.”

Added goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen: “If somebody has earned a day off tonight, it would’ve been him. But it tells about his character.”

Thompson won his Olympic gold medal in Milan on Sunday, then traveled from Italy to Miami to Washington D.C. There were celebrations along the way, of course – but never did they compromise his desire to be with the Sabres for the start of their playoff push.

The Sabres alternate captain showed up in a big way, scoring a goal and an assist to help carry the team to a 2-1 win over the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center.

The victory – which opened a stretch of 25 games in 50 days to end the regular season – pushed the Sabres back into third place in the Atlantic Division by virtue of a tiebreaker over the Red Wings.

“I was obviously very excited to party and hang out with the guys (on Team USA), but we have something very special going on here, too,” Thompson said. “I think that winning feeling that we’ve just got a taste of is pretty addicting.

“I’d like to continue to chase that feeling and do what we set out to do at the beginning of the season with this group of guys. Obviously been with a lot of them for quite some time now. To accomplish a goal that we set out to do with these guys would be very special.”

The Olympic revelries continued pregame, as New Jersey held a ceremony honoring golden goal scorer Jack Hughes (who was also in the lineup after joining the Devils early Wednesday morning). Hughes ushered Thompson to join him at center ice to roaring applause from the New Jersey crowd, and Thompson received another loud ovation when he was called back to center ice for a ceremonial faceoff.

It was a meaningful moment for Thompson, who will be forever linked to Hughes through their Olympic success. But the attention quickly turned to the business at hand once the puck dropped for real.

Thompson admitted he felt “horrible” in the game’s early stages – but that simply put him in the same boat as most of his teammates, feeling their way back into game speed after nearly three weeks off.

As the Sabres navigated their way through a scoreless first period, Thompson stayed vocal.

“I think he was just harping on us to keep it simple and go hard,” Krebs said. “Keep rolling shifts over, getting pucks behind them. I think that’s what he took from Team USA a lot, is playing the right way, and it’s worked out for him really well.”

Luukkonen kept the team in good position early – matching his counterpart, Jake Allen, with timely saves – until, finally, the Sabres got their break. Krebs delivered a pass on a 2-on-1 rush to Thompson, who rifled a hard wrist shot past Allen from the slot.

The duo connected again in the second period to increase the Sabres’ lead to 2-0. This time, Thompson stole the puck from Hughes – his teammate no longer – and delivered a saucer pass to Krebs in the offensive zone. Krebs knocked the puck out of the air, settled it, and sent a shot into the near-side corner over Allen’s shoulder.

New Jersey got a 6-on-5 goal from Timo Meier to cut into the deficit late, but Buffalo locked it down from there to secure the win. Thompson skated 19:19, second among Sabres forwards behind his linemate, Alex Tuch.

“His energy was good,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “I think he’s spent a couple weeks around a lot of really good players. I think he gets to see some of the world’s elite, the way they handle situations, the way they handle pressure, the way they handle big games.

“I mean, there’s no bigger game (than USA-Canada). He was sitting on the bench with them and ended up winning a hockey game. All of that’s a real positive for us.”

The Sabres have a five-point cushion between them and the closest non-playoff team, the Washington Capitals, who also won on Wednesday night. Every point is crucial in a tightly contested Eastern Conference playoff race. To that end, starting the final stretch off on the right foot felt important.

Thompson wouldn’t miss it.

“It’s very important,” he said. “We have something really good going here and I think every point, especially at this point of the season going forward, is crucial for us.”

Here’s more from the win in New Jersey.

Luukkonen shines in return from injury

The Sabres had three players back from injured reserve for the game in Luukkonen and forwards Josh Dunne and Josh Norris.

Luukkonen’s lower-body injury, sustained in Toronto on Jan. 27, cost the goaltender his own Olympic aspirations. He’d been selected to Finland’s roster for the tournament but, after a few days of feeling out the injury, was forced to withdraw.

Having a playoff push to look forward to helped Luukkonen overcome the disappointment of missing out on Milan. He was crucial to the winning effort with a 28-save performance on Wednesday, with a highlight reel that started when he slid post to post to stop a one-timer from Lenni Hameenaho roughly two minutes into the game.

In the second period, Luukkonen stopped an odd-man attempt from Dawson Mercer, then followed it minutes later with a point-blank save on Nick Bjugstad. He fought through traffic to keep Devils at bay as they pushed for the tying goal in the final minutes.

“I feel like I got into it, the pace of the game, fast tonight,” he said. “We played good tonight. I feel like we played solid defensively.”​

Postgame sound

Up next

The road trip continues in Florida on Friday. Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7.