As the weather gets colder and the NHL hockey season begins to get underway, Halloween now is just a few days away. The Sabres hosted a Halloween theme night on October 26th against the Detroit Red Wings. The game resulted in a 5-3 win for Buffalo. The last game they played on Halloween night was also against Detroit.
On October 31st, 2022 Buffalo put on a show for the fans in attendance winning 8-3. It turned out better than the previous year on Halloween. In 2021, they lost 3-2, in Los Angeles against the Kings.
The night of Halloween in 2022 was the night of Tage Thompson. The center had three goals and three assists on the evening, giving the fans a night to remember. “He’s a guy who can sort of take over a game and dominate,” said forward and former Sabre Jeff Skinner on Thompson's evening.
One of Thompson's six points came via an assist to Skinner for Skinner's 300th NHL goal
In addition to Thompson and Skinner, goals were scored by Rasmus Aplund, Rasmus Dahlin, Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn. The 2024/2025 leader in assists, Alex Tuch, also provided an assist on the night of 2022. Thompson's second goal towards the hat trick was off of Tuch and former captain Kyle Okposo.
In addition to the goal scoring, backup goalie Eric Comrie played well between the pipes. At the time, the 27-year-old, had 15 saves on the evening for a save percentage of .833. The Sabres also prevented the Red Wings from scoring on their lone power play opportunity for the night.
Meanwhile Buffalo, had two goals on the holiday night off the powerplay. Thompson, and Sabres captain for this season, Dahlin each scored when the Red Wings were shorthanded.
Thompson himself would go onto score six points in a game in December of the same season. Both are the second most points in a game in Buffalo history. The record is seven achieved by Gilbert Perreault in 1976 and Dave Andreychuck in 1986.
Thompson completed the hat trick in the third period to go 7-3. It was a four goal third period for Buffalo were only up 4-3 at the start of the last 20 minutes.
The Sabres have not made the playoffs since 2011, the fandom has had little to cheer about since. This one night of entertainment on Halloween in 2022 could be one thing Sabres faithful can look fondly back on.