"They gather a lot of speed from below and they're tough to handle once they're in full flight," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said of Edmonton's attack. "I thought that we did a good job of getting on top and disrupting the speed, getting in [McDavid's] ice early and often. That's not an easy task to do. He's got speed from 200 feet away from the goalie. He gets that speed, demonstrates that speed. It's not going to fall on one guy tonight to [defend him]."
And again, the Sabres defensemen tonight have varied levels of experience. Burgdoerfer, a veteran of 429 minor league games (including 272 in the ECHL), made his NHL debut last night, recording three hits in 10:03 of ice time. While he's getting his first taste of the NHL at 27, Guhle is experiencing something similar at age 19.
Guhle is set to play in the third NHL game of his career tonight after being recalled on an emergency basis from his junior team in Prince George. In two games, Guhle is averaging 16:34 and has produced four shots on goal. He played 16:48 against the Capitals and had to go up against Alexander Ovechkin more than a few times.
"Last night, he used his skating and his footwork to be a good defender," Bylsma said. "It's a 19-year-old kid, you're getting a tall task with doing that but I thought he's done a good job of stepping in and showing he can play."
Ryan O'Reilly is no stranger to logging big minutes for the Sabres. The center played 22:48 last night, but doesn't see the back-to-back situation as that heavy a lift. One of the keys, he said, is try to establish more time in the offensive zone so that the minutes aren't so hard. The Sabres are 1-1-0 in the second game of back-to-back sets so far this season.
