‘You need those kinds of wins’ | Sabres overcome Dahlin injury, Florida rallies to win first Atlantic Division contest

When Tage Thompson’s shot found the back of the net late in the third period on Monday, everyone at KeyBank Center – Sabres players and fans alike – could drop their shoulders and take a breath. 

The perfectly placed wrist shot extended Buffalo’s lead to two goals; the fourth lead in the game for Thompson’s squad, but the first multi-goal one.

And the turbulence on the box score didn’t even tell the whole story of the Sabres’ 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers. Florida’s rallies aside (Buffalo led 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, and relinquished each of those leads), the Sabres overcame the loss of captain Rasmus Dahlin – who left the game early in the second period with an upper-body injury and is considered day to day  – and still secured two points against a division rival. 

“We got to loose pucks. I thought we skated well, moved the puck well,” coach Lindy Ruff said, particularly flagging his group’s strong start. “In the six games so far, that was probably our best hockey game.” 

Like Thompson’s ever-important insurance goal, it was a game of breakthroughs for the Sabres. Josh Doan and Ryan McLeod both scored their first goals of the year, while the recently snakebitten Buffalo power play went 2-for-5 and has now generated three goals in two games. One of those was Noah Östlund’s game winner with 12:45 remaining.

“You need those kinds of wins,” said goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. “You have to be able to get those kinds of wins, especially in the Atlantic Division games.”

Luukkonen, too, understands just how much the Sabres had to battle through to walk away with two points on Monday – he entered the game at 6:25 in the second period, relieving starting goalie Colten Ellis after a Florida power-play goal leaked through Ellis’ pads. 

“I thought we got exactly what we needed,” Ruff said of the goalie switch. “(Luukkonen) made a couple really big saves for us, made a couple great saves late. … It’s not easy pulling goalies during a game. It's not a decision I really like, but we have to win. We have to win hockey games.” 

Buffalo had struggled to turn offensive pressure into goals during a two-game slump, 4-0 and 4-1 losses to Dallas and Utah. The solution, Thompson said after the latest loss to the Mammoth, was “just get ugly” and crash the net for second-chance opportunities.

Chalk that up as another breakthrough for Buffalo – the Sabres clogged the low slot to generate numerous high-danger chances, none bigger than Östlund’s game-winner, an easy tap-in after he’d out-battled Florida’s Gustav Forsling to stake prime real estate just beyond the blue paint. 

“I think we, as a group, knew we had to get back to where we were,” Doan said. “I didn't think we were that bad last game. I mean, we were right there the whole game and fell asleep for two minutes and then struggled to get back into it. 

“But I think right from the get-go today, we were moving our feet and playing confident with the puck.” 

Here’s more from Monday’s win.

Dahlin day to day 

Dahlin left the contest 3:44 into the second period, forcing Buffalo to juggle five defensemen for the rest of the game. Dahlin appeared to be in discomfort after taking a hard one-timer on Buffalo’s early second-period power play, and Ruff confirmed postgame that the shot did lead to his exit. 

The captain didn't fly with the team to Montreal postgame, meaning he'll at least be out of the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Canadiens.

Special teams highs and lows 

Before Dahlin left the contest, however, he was brilliant – namely on the power-play, when he finished off a beautiful passing play with a blistering shot that beat Florida goalie Jacob Markstrom (who was replaced by Akira Schmid after the first period due to injury). 

Jack Quinn and Thompson got the assists on that goal, but each skater on the top power-play unit touched the puck before it sailed off Dahlin’s stick – Östlund worked it along the boards for Zach Benson, who flipped it back for Thompson before No. 72 rimmed it to Quinn. Quinn found Dahlin, who took care of the rest. 

Östlund and Benson didn’t get points on that first goal but connected for the game-winner in the third period, Benson finding the Swede camped out atop the crease with Quinn on the secondary assist, his second helper of the night. 

“We solved pressure. We found the open man, and then we delivered,” Ruff said. “Great job (by Benson) getting that off the backside of the goaltender to Östy on the second (power-play) goal. 

“And now you’ll probably ask about it; now we’ve got to work on our penalty-killing.” 

A Panthers power play that entered last in the league (1-for-28, 3.6%) managed to get on the board twice in four attempts on Monday, the second goal prompting Ruff to pull Ellis. Though the east-to-west plays have burned the Sabres' PK and put their goalies in tough spots over the past few games. 

“There’s nothing a goaltender can do about (those plays),” Ruff said. “Those are the areas we’ve got to improve on. Our decision on how to defend that has to be better.

Monkeys off the back

When Doan got the scoring start in the first period, he was particularly animated in his celebration.

“A little bit of relief to just see something go in the net right now,” Doan said of his first goal of the year, with a chuckle. “It was good to see and good to build off. I think after that we got rolling a bit there, and it's nice to see a couple guys get on the score sheet tonight.” 

Doan was alluding to McLeod, who also potted his first goal of the season on a strong drive to the net in the second period that put Buffalo up 3-2 at the time.  

“That’s really important, too. You want to see those guys get on the board,” Ruff said. “We had some other guys who could have gotten on the board too that weren't on, but made a lot of good plays in the game, and the opportunities were there to score goals.” 

Luukkonen, too, looked steady for his 33 minutes of action. The Finnish netminder, to his standard, hasn’t had an ideal start to his season – .782 save percentage and a 1-2-0 record before Monday – but made some big saves down the stretch to prevent Florida from tying the game for a fourth time. 

“Of course there's been bad games for us, but it's just something that, as a team and guys individually, (have) to find a way to dig themselves out of these holes before they get too deep,” Luukkonen said of his and the team’s recent rut. “I don't think it's anything too crazy going on. For me or the team, one big thing is just everybody getting comfortable with their own game.”

Postgame sound

Up next

The Sabres hit the road for a three-game trip to Montreal, Toronto and Montreal again. Tuesday’s puck drop at the Canadiens is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., with MSG’s pregame coverage starting at 6.