Coming off strong road trip, Sabres look to keep going north

Zemgus Girgensons has been a regular for the Buffalo Sabres since the start of the 2013-14 season. His 357 games with the franchise rank second only to Jason Pominville among players on the current roster.
He's well aware of their recent history in October.
"I've seen some different stats, just the wins in October or something are ridiculous," Girgensons said following practice on Wednesday. "It definitely feels different. We have a good group here and everyone's putting in work."
At 5-4-0, the Sabres are off to their best start since 2011-12, two years before Girgensons made his NHL debut. They're coming off what players have described as their two most complete performances of the season in road wins over Los Angeles and Anaheim.

And, if their practice at Harborcenter was any indication, they're anything but complacent.
Following an overnight flight that led into a rest day on Monday and a light skills practice on Tuesday, the Sabres were back in full-throttle mode in preparation for their home game against the Montreal Canadiens. Phil Housley took a moment early in the session to remind his team what had gotten them their last two wins.
If they're going to play fast, he said, they need to go north.
"We started a little slow in practice, that's all," Housley said. "We had a skills day, now we had to start getting our head and mind right playing a really good Montreal team tomorrow. They're a very fast team and I just wanted us to push the pace a little bit more."

A victory over the Canadiens would be another benchmark for the Sabres, giving them their first three-game win streak of the season. They won back-to-back home games against New York and Vegas earlier this month but followed with a loss to Colorado.
Getting that third win will require a start like the ones they had in their last two games, which were characterized by clean puck management and long possessions in the offensive zone.
"We have a little momentum here, but from a standpoint of just, I guess, the process of this team becoming a consistent team, we've got to bring the work ethic day-in and day-out and just that consistency of our game that makes us an effective team," defenseman Jake McCabe said.
"That's managing the puck well, going north, playing north hockey. Going forward that's just understanding where we are in every game, having good starts and sticking with our game plan."
The Canadiens come to town with points in five-straight games following a win over Calgary on Tuesday. Their 12 points place them atop the Atlantic Division, two ahead of the Sabres. It's the kind of challenge they can't afford to look past.
"It's something that hasn't been around here, the long win [streaks]," Girgensons said. "I think it would be nice to think about a winning streak but in this league, you've got to take it game-by-game. Right now, we should be thinking that we've just got to win tomorrow's game."
Coverage on Thursday begins at 6:30 p.m. on MSG-B.

Offense from defense

When Housley took over as coach prior to last season, it was expected that offense from the blue line would be a hallmark of the Sabres' game. Housley coached a prolific defense in Nashville and was dynamic on the back end during his own Hall of Fame career.
It took until Dec. 5 of last season for a Sabres defenseman to find the back of the net, but this year has been a different story. The Sabres have six goals from six different defensemen, tied for fifth in the NHL. Ottawa leads the league with 10 goals by defensemen.
"[We're] just executing better," McCabe said. "Everyone's contributing on the back end, everyone can skate well on the back end, no matter who's playing that night. We're all playing good minutes and everyone's getting in the game."
It's not as if all their goals are coming off the rush. McCabe scored from the half-wall, as did Zach Bogosian. Nathan Beaulieu, Rasmus Ristolainen and Marco Scandella all scored on shots from the point. Rasmus Dahlin crashed the net and buried a rebound.
"I think a lot of this has to do with the forwards going to the net front and taking the goalie's eyes away," Housley said. "But I like the way they've added to the rush. They've complemented our rush game out of the offensive zone."

Wednesday's practice

Beaulieu skated for the second day in a row and is healthy enough for game action, Housley said. The defenseman has been out since sustaining an injury on a blocked shot in San Jose last Thursday.
Here's how the Sabres lined up in full on Wednesday:
53 Jeff Skinner - 9 Jack Eichel - 29 Jason Pominville
43 Conor Sheary - 17 Vladimir Sobotka - 23 Sam Reinhart
71 Evan Rodrigues - 37 Casey Mittelstadt - 21 Kyle Okposo
10 Patrik Berglund - 22 Johan Larsson - 28 Zemgus Girgensons
81 Remi Elie - 72 Tage Thompson
19 Jake McCabe - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
6 Marco Scandella - 4 Zach Bogosian
26 Rasmus Dahlin - 8 Casey Nelson
82 Nathan Beaulieu
40 Carter Hutton
35 Linus Ullmark