Buffalo Sabres forward Dylan Cozens has arguably had the roughest season of any scorer, but he may have finally turned the corner last night.
While the 2023-24 Buffalo Sabres season has been a struggle, Dylan Cozens has arguably struggled more than any other forward on the team, or at least among those expected to score often. Before last night’s win over the Vegas Golden Knights, Cozens had just 13 points in 28 points, putting him on pace for a meager 37 for the season, his fewest since 2020-21.
Recently, you couldn’t place too much blame on his shoulders, as the lack of scoring had nothing to do with effort or passing up on scoring opportunities; the puck, for one reason or another, wasn’t finding the net. Either an opposing goaltender made a save fit for an end-of-season highlight reel, Cozens’ shot would bank off of the post, or an opponent would get a stick on the puck at the last microsecond.
The same thing seemed to happen when Cozens passed to a teammate who had an open look, so on paper, it looked as though 2023-24 would be an abysmal year. Even if those of us watching and following the team knew differently, most would just glance at the stats, and assume the Workhorse from Whitehorse struggled.
Dylan Cozens could turn things around after helping to fuel Buffalo Sabres win
While Devon Levi and Zach Benson put up a pair of unforgettable performances, let’s not forget that Cozens may have been the best player on the ice last night. At minimum, he enjoyed the finest play of the evening when he created a turnover with a hard hit on Keegan Kolesar before collecting the puck and shuffling it toward Kyle Okposo.
The puck eventually landed on Casey Mittelstadt’s stick, and he passed it back to Cozens, who skated up the middle of the ice. Cozens found himself one-on-one with a Golden Knights player near the point, and drilled it past Logan Thompson for his first goal since November 22nd.
Cozens later had assists on both of Casey Mittelstadt’s goals, the first of which tied the game at the 5:01 mark of the third period, and the final was an empty-netter that iced the game. So will his performance from last night change the trajectory of the 22-year-old’s season? The first test at consistency – or better luck, really – will come tonight when the Buffalo Sabres face the Arizona Coyotes for the second time this week.
Source: Observations: Sabres bounce back with ‘big, big’ win over defending Cup champs by Lance Lysowski, Buffalo News
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)