In the Buffalo Sabres win last night vs. the San Jose Sharks, Owen Power scored his fourth goal of the season on a heads-up play.
In 51 contests, Buffalo Sabres defenseman Owen Power has 20 points, putting him on pace for 31 if he continues to score in roughly 40% of his games. But Power has been coming into his own in the goal scoring realm lately, knocking down all four of them over the past month, with the first coming in an overtime win on January 23rd against the Dallas Stars.
Power, known for his two-way game, went without scoring a goal over the first half of the season, leading some into criticizing his offensive play. Despite the lack of goals, however, Power was calm with the puck. He read plays well, and often found the right teammate who would later make the play.
So why did it take so long for Power to start scoring? It mainly came because coaches wanted to work Power up the ice, wanting him to focus on his defensive game first. Now, you’re seeing the rookie creep his way up the ice and in doing so, is naturally making more plays when the Sabres are in the offensive zone.
Owen Power will score, score, and score some more for the Buffalo Sabres
It should surprise no one if Power ended the season at or near the 10 goal mark. It sounded farfetched just one month ago, but since then, coaches have given Power more freedom to thread the needle.
For example, his goal last night game off of a solid read. Power saw Jeff Skinner holding the puck at the right point, so he bolted toward the net, allowing the winger to find him. The rookie then pulled off his best impression of Tage Thompson with an impressive deke, before backhanding the puck past Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen for the go-ahead goal.
Expect more plays like that as the season reaches its final act as Power opens his game even more. It’s going to be exciting to see what the rookie defenseman can do from here on out, and I’m in the camp believing that we will see at least another 10-15 points, if not more.
Source: Observations: Sabres gain ground in playoff chase by solving Sharks in 4-2 win by Lance Lysowski
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