Throw any type of game at the Buffalo Sabres and they won’t be fazed.
Whether high-scoring or tight, leading or behind, they’re comfortable in their game, which has helped them become one of the best teams in the NHL over the past three months.
With the top spot in the Atlantic Division in their sights, the Sabres aim to make it five straight wins when they visit the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. A win, combined with a Tampa Bay Lightning loss in regulation to Winnipeg, would tie Buffalo in points, although the Lightning would have two games in hand.
“It’s just a daily grind,” goalie Alex Lyon said. “Obviously, winning builds confidence, right? So I would be lying if I said that didn’t have something to do with it. But the way that this group works, each man, big credit to the guys.
“… If our details can be better, if our work can be better, it’s a zero-sum game. You have to constantly think about that and constantly focus on that, and we’ve done a good job of that coming out of the break. But the East is so strong this year, so we can’t take anything for granted.”
The Sabres are coming off a 3-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, building up a 3-0 advantage before Vegas tallied a pair less than two minutes apart.
“We’ve been through a lot, we’ve learned a lot,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “I think the best way of learning is going through some hardship. And we went through some hardship. I look at a lot of situations last year that told us we had to be a better team, we had more composure.”
Consistency on the power play, which is 17th in the NHL at 19.9%, has been an issue for Buffalo for most of the season, although the team has scored on the power play in eight of its last 10 games, going 8-for-32 (25%).
The Penguins, meanwhile, are looking to bounce back after a 2-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. Pittsburgh scored just 42 seconds into the game, but Boston responded with two goals in less than a minute before the halfway point of the first period to take the lead and, ultimately, the game.
“We gave ourselves a chance the whole game, and both goaltenders played tremendously and made the saves when they needed to,” defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “It’s unfortunate we couldn’t have a better (first) five minutes, but tonight wasn’t our best effort. Still, we did enough to give ourselves a chance to tie the game up, but it wasn’t our night.”
The Penguins are second in the Metropolitan Division with 75 points. That ties them with the New York Islanders, but the Penguins have a game in hand. Since its six-game winning streak from Jan. 19-31, Pittsburgh has lost four of its last seven games (3-2-2).
“We’re walking out of here without any points. At this time of year, you can’t walk away and say, ‘that’s okay, it was a good effort,'” Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said. “… Tight-checking games, it gets harder and harder from this point out. So, I think we got to take some things from this game and work on them and move on quick.”
