As the Sabres continue to watch the postseason from home, there is a few things they can learn from who is playing and how last season went. One game that could provide answers as how best to go about finding a winning formula occurred on March 10th.
They defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 in front of there home fans at Keybank Arena. It was a strong performance against a team that currently is one win away from a birth in the Stanley Cup Finals.
During the game, Tage Thompson had two goals, Alex Tuch provide the other and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had over 30 saves in a late season win. The Sabres provided on going pressure and played well on defense. It may be the formula for the how the team can be successful moving forward into next season.
"I think once we simplified, kept pucks moving north, put it behind them, get on the forecheck, we started to push them back a little bit, get some of our offense," Thompson told reporters after the game.
The Sabres had 23 shots on the game and on defense stop three of four power plays to put a damper on the Oilers night. Beck Malenstyn provided three hits on the evening.
Thompson provided the go-ahead goal in the third period against the Oilers.
The Sabres need to find positives and game film to look at as examples of how to move forward as an organization and break the drought they currently are in. This game would be a perfect example of that.
On the third period goal that was the game winner, Thompson was found by newly acquired Josh Norris. He had joined the team only a few days prior.
It does demonstrate how important the moves are that the Sabres will need to make if they are successful next season. They have a few pieces in place but will need to acquire more via the draft, trade assets and free agency.
“Great play,” Lindy Ruff said of the goal. “It was a great skate, and it didn’t look like for a second he was going to get there but he just got to the puck and got it over to ‘Tommer’ and ‘Tommer’ finished.”
Now the Sabres will need to have both great skaters and great goal scorers to provide not just one or two strong moments but a season full of them to break their playoff drought.