Thompson's 1st-career hat trick comes in home loss to Colorado

Tage Thompson saw the hats fly in over the glass as he celebrated his first-career hat trick midway through the second period on Sunday, but the celebrations wouldn't last long.
Thompson's third goal - and 19th of the season - tied things up in the Buffalo Sabres' game against the Colorado Avalanche at KeyBank Center, but Colorado scored twice in the third period to win 5-3.

The winning goal came as a result of a controversial non-call by the officials.
At the 8:37 mark of the third period, Alex Newhook scored to put Colorado ahead. The Avalanche had numbers coming into the Buffalo zone because Jack Johnson took out a forechecking Rasmus Dahlin behind the Avalanche net.
As Dahlin struggled to get back to the bench, Colorado started back the other way on the odd-man rush that led to Newhook's goal.

"First off all, two good referees in the game. There's no question. Those two guys have been around a long time and they're good officials," Sabres coach Granato said. "So, they had a conversation. Things happen fast. They saw what they saw. We can look at replays and you might see more. You do see more on that, obviously, but you've gotta move on."
On the next shift, Buffalo went on the power play after Erik Johnson was called for tripping, but the Sabres couldn't convert.
Mikko Rantanen eventually iced the game with an empty netter in the final minute.

The hat trick

All three of Thompson's goals Saturday highlighted the chemistry his line with Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch has been developing.
"I think that happens with guys when they play together for an extended period of time and they have success. You have good chemistry," Skinner said.
"Not only me knowing where (Thompson) is, but him also reading off me where to go, where to find the open spots. I think for the three of us, it's about winning battles.
"When you win battles and create space for each other - I think early on we did a good job of that. Maybe toward the end of the third, we would have liked to get one there, but keep working at it."

On the first goal, which opened the scoring 2:50 into the game, Tuch won one of those aforementioned battles along the left halfwall and pulled the puck out to Skinner, who made a quick pass to Thompson. The 24-year-old center then wristed a shot from the left faceoff circle to beat Kuemper.
"Teams have to respect his shot. They have to respect his skill with the puck," Skinner said. "When he gets that time, he's dangerous. He can make the other team pay. I think that's what you saw a little bit of today."

Thompson was the beneficiary of a great individual effort by Skinner for his second goal to make it 2-2 with 7:18 left in the first. Skinner dangled his way through the neutral zone and into the Avalanche end with a ton of speed, sent the puck to Dahlin at the point for a give-and-go and received the puck back in the left corner. He then sent a pass into the high slot where Thompson rifled a shot in.
"My expectations of him probably exceed his expectations of him because a lot of time, he tries to score the perfect goal," Granato said. "When he realizes not to worry about scoring the perfect goal one inch under the bar, he'll score double his goals.
"Just score. Just release it quicker rather than trying to score perfect. And he's starting to grasp that. When he does, he'll realize how much he loves to score and he won't worry about the perfect goal. He'll just keep scoring."

His hat trick goal tied the game at 3 with 7:16 left in the second period and capped off a strong shift in the offensive zone for that line. Skinner had a breakaway, but couldn't convert and the Sabres then cycled the puck around until Thompson gathered in a rebound from Mattias Samuelsson and cashed in.
"It's a cool experience, for sure," Thompson said of watching Sabres fans toss their hats and caps over the glass. "You grow up and you want to play in the NHL and those are little dreams you have: scoring a hat trick, winning Stanley Cups. For one of those to come true and get a hat trick, it's a cool feeling."

Skinner scored four goals on Sunday and Thompson's hat trick marked the first time Buffalo has had two hat tricks within a week of each other since Drew Stafford scored three goals on February 8 and 13, 2011.
Thompson has 21 points (9+12) in his last 19 games played, including 14 points (7+7) in his last 11 contests. He also leads all Sabres with 26 points (16+10) in 25 home games this season.

Rebounding from a disappointing game

Buffalo was coming off a 3-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, a game where no one was happy with the effort.
"Losing sucks. It never feels good to lose, but I think the team responded well," Thompson said. "After last game, that's not our standard. That's not what we're about and everyone in the room knows that.
"I think we showed up today with the right attitude, the right mindset and the [right] focus going into the game. We played a full 60. That was the outcome. The effort was there, but the result sucks."
Granato was impressed with the way his team matched up against a top team like Colorado, especially after Thursday's result.
"I didn't like the way we played the other day, but it doesn't matter what I like or don't like. The great thing is they didn't like it and they responded today," he said.

Mittelstadt's return

Numerous injuries have limited Casey Mittelstadt to just eight games this season. He returned to the lineup on Saturday after having missed the previous five games with an upper-body injury.
He skated 15:10 with three shots on goal on a line with Rasmus Asplund and Kyle Okposo. He was 6-0 on faceoffs after two periods and finished the game 8-2 (80 percent) from the faceoff dot.
Mittelstadt saw the matchup against Colorado as a great way to test his endurance.
"I know it's going to kind of take a little time to get up to speed. I was happy we played them first. Throw me in the fire and have to catch up quickly," he said. "That was good for me. I think I can still definitely play better, but it was a good start."
He indicated that he should have no issues playing on back-to-back days.
"There were a few shifts with Casey, Aspy and Okie that showed they're dangerous," Granato said. "To have that third-line depth of danger was real exciting for me watching it because you see the potential we have - the future we have - with the talent that we have coming. It's young talent."

Up next

The Sabres wrap up the weekend with a game on Sunday in Columbus. Faceoff against the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena is set for 6 p.m. on MSG and WGR 550.
Pregame coverage on MSG begins at 5:30. Stay tuned to Sabres.com and the team's social media channels for news throughout the day.