Sabres look to spread around offense in clash vs. Flames
The Buffalo Sabres will try to continue benefiting from their scoring depth when they host the Calgary Flames on Saturday afternoon.
Six different players scored a goal for the Sabres in a 6-1 win at the New York Rangers on Thursday night.
All 12 forwards contributed at least one point for the second time in team history. The other time that happened was in a 7-2 win against the Washington Capitals on Jan. 17, 1994.
"Yeah, you're not going to lose many games when you get an effort like that out of every line," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said.
The top line of JJ Peterka, Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch combined for a goal and two assists against the Rangers, as did the third and fourth lines. The second line of Zach Benson, Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn did even better, producing two goals and three assists.
"You need scoring depth and when you have every line playing the right way and frustrating the other team, that's why every line got offense (against the Rangers)," Thompson said. "Our lineup, there's skill on every single line, guys that can finish. We saw that (against the Rangers). We were able to capitalize on their mistakes."
The Sabres also put up five goals on 12 shots against one of the top goalies in the NHL, former Vezina Trophy winner Igor Shesterkin. He was replaced by Jonathan Quick, but not before his save percentage fell from .933 to .920.
"That's probably one of the top goalies in the league, probably top three goalies, so to run him out fairly early, it's pretty impressive," Benson said. "We just have to keep playing this way. We have to keep playing quick. We're playing to our identity again."
The Flames have dropped six of their last eight games (2-5-1) following their 4-3 overtime loss at the Boston Bruins on Thursday.
Calgary trailed 3-1 entering the third before Yegor Sharangovich scored 58 seconds into the period and Nazem Kadri tallied to tie it at 9:55.
"That's kind of a trademark for our team," Flames coach Ryan Huska said. "We always feel like we're still in games, so I'm pleased with how they were a resilient bunch (against Boston), and that's a big point for us."
Another one of the positives to emerge from the loss to Boston was the top power-play unit of Kadri, Sharangovich, Andrei Kuzmenko, Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar produced its first goal with the man-advantage in the past 10 games.
"I was happy our other unit scored because sometimes that's what it needs to get them going again," Huska said. "They're squeezing sticks a little too much right now and, at times, it can lead to a disjointed looking power play, so I'm glad they were able to score (against Boston)."
Calgary hopes to put pressure on teams a little sooner in games. The Flames have scored 21 third-period goals this season, but only 19 in the first and second periods combined.
"I think we have a belief in here, if we play the system and the way that we can play for 60 (minutes), it'll wear teams down," Calgary defenseman Tyson Barrie said.
