A modest offensive surge has the Buffalo Sabres in position to win three straight games for the first time since the opening week of the season.
Achieving that feat, however, might not be easy Thursday night at home against an Ottawa Senators club that has had some good moments lately.
Buffalo managed just nine goals in a five-game stretch (winning just one) from Jan. 25 to Feb. 10, but in the Sabres punched in 11 goals in the past two — winning 5-3 at Montreal on Sunday and 6-3 over the New York Islanders at home on Tuesday. Jeff Skinner scored four times against the Canadiens, and Victor Olofsson snapped a 30-game goal drought with two against New York. Tage Thompson registered one in each contest.
Playing with renewed heart according to coach Don Granato, the pair of wins marked the first time since Dec. 14 and 16, that Buffalo has won back-to-back games. The Sabres opened the season by winning their first three games, all at home.
“That’s the byproduct of playing with passion, playing to the point of fearlessness,” Granato said. “It’s all the stuff that I’ve talked about. Getting back to playing fearless.”
Thompson, tied for the team lead with 34 points, has not shown much fear during his current five-game point streak. He’s posted six goals with 12 assists over his past 17 games. Thompson did not play in Buffalo’s 3-1 win at Ottawa on Jan. 18 and was stymied during a 5-0 road loss to Senators seven days later.
Current Buffalo netminder and long-time Senator Craig Anderson (6-3-0, 2.67 goals-against average this season) could face his former club for the first time since leaving prior to last season. Teammate Dustin Tokarski (3.30 GAA in 17 games this season) made 30 saves in picking up the win on Tuesday.
Ottawa’s Matt Murray made 32 saves against Buffalo for his lone shutout of the season in the Jan. 25 meeting and is 3-3-1 with a 1.73 goals-against average starting with that victory. However, he left Tuesday’s 5-2 loss to St. Louis with an undisclosed injury after allowing four goals on 31 shots in nearly 51 minutes.
Teammate Anton Forsberg, meanwhile, has stopped 94 of 100 shots faced while winning two of his past three road starts. He made 29 saves in the loss to Buffalo last month.
The Senators have dropped three of their past four overall, but won their last road game, Sunday at Washington, 4-1. Consider that they have scored 41 goals while going 7-4-2 on the road since Dec. 2. Still, Tuesday’s 5-2 loss against a playoff-caliber team such as the Blues offered another learning experience for this young Ottawa squad.
“It’s good for us to play a team like that for us to see what it takes,” Ottawa’s fourth-year defenseman Josh Brown said. “It’s definitely a bit of a reality check.
“That’s the next step for us as a younger group.”
Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle scored his ninth goal Tuesday and recorded an assist in each of the two games against Buffalo. Brady Tkachuk, the Senators’ leader with 35 points, has a goal with two assists in the past two games.
–Field Level Media
