Don Granato admitted he sees what you see. His defense pairings were in a bad rut that reached its low point when the Sabres ran around in Seattle on Thursday. Things seemed better for about 50 minutes Saturday night until a late collapse against Detroit turned a 3-1 lead into a 4-3 overtime loss.
Worse yet, Rasmus Dahlin was a flashpoint for the trouble. The 21-year-old is the team's top minutes muncher, but got burned on 1-on-1 rushes last week by San Jose's Tomas Hertl and on Saturday for the tying goal by Detroit's Tyler Bertuzzi.
Krebs, who the Sabres acquired from the Golden Vegas Knights, in the Jack Eichel trade deal, is no stranger to a franchise-altering roster rebuild.
The pairing of Dahlin and Will Butcher wasn't working. So Monday night in Washington, Granato got Dahlin back to his natural left side and paired him with veteran Mark Pysyk. Perhaps the coach was a game or two late in making the switch, but the bottom line is that it was done and worked wonders.
Pysyk's calm demeanor on the ice made a big difference. The pair stayed together in practice Wednesday and Pysyk will be alongside the former No. 1 overall pick during the Sabres' monster back-to-back here this weekend, Friday against Edmonton and Saturday against Toronto.
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Once upon a time in Sabres history, Pysyk was a first-round draft choice breaking into the NHL at 21. But when that was happening in 2013, Pysyk had not already played 200 NHL games, as Dahlin has. Now, Pysyk is a 29-year-old doing a nice job rejuvenating his career.
"It's quite a big difference compared with me when I was his age," Pysyk said Wednesday in KeyBank Center. "He plays with the puck very well, he's confident, he's unbelievably smooth out there. And I just went into it like any other game, just trying to be solid, responsible. Just do my thing and let him do his."
The sophomore defenseman had two assists in each game of a home-and-home series with Michigan State.
The numbers bear that out. During the Sabres' 5-3 loss to the Capitals, they had 75% of the shot attempts at 5-on-5 when Dahlin and Pysyk were on the ice, according to NaturalStatTrick.com, and Washington did not score. The Dahlin-Butcher pairing had just 48% against Detroit, and the pair flamed out at just 29% during Thursday's 5-2 thumping in Seattle.
"He's a real stabilizing personality. He's been in the league a long time and has a calm to his game," Granato said of Pysyk. "And I think that was at a premium for us at that moment, to have a little bit more calm. Certainly, the defensive group was under fire. ... The right shot makes it a lot easier."
Pysyk is back with the Sabres on a one-year, $900,000 contract after two up-and-down years between Florida and Dallas, where sometimes he had to play forward just to crack the lineup. He's averaging 18:20 per game, his highest total in four years.
"He is a guy that he has a smile on his face. And he doesn't deter from competing," Granato said. "So he knows his job is to compete and it's a business and has obligations, but he has a real zest for life. And that is very, very positive for everybody around. He wants more in his career."
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Granato, of course, was not here during Pysyk's first stint with Buffalo and said he watched a lot of Pysyk's film from last year in Dallas. He liked what he saw. Pysyk said he's no longer worried about making mistakes.
"Confidence goes back to that," Pysyk said. "When you're playing forward, 'D', getting scratched, you're certainly not diving into games full of confidence. You're kind of gripping the stick tight and playing not to make mistakes, which is exactly the opposite of what Don is preaching to us."
There are times, Granato said, when Dahlin shouldn't be looking for the great play and should be taking the simpler one.
'When you have confidence that says, 'I know there's a great play to be made sometimes,' that means you're looking for a great play all of the time," Granato said. "And you force plays a lot of times because of your stubbornness, because you're confident. 'I know I can make this play.' All of a sudden it closes up and you didn't survive a simple play. And that's part of growth."
Granato's message is to play free, and not be anchored by fear of mistakes.
"That was his message, right from training camp to me," Pysyk said. " 'I think there's a little bit more in your game with the puck instead of just chipping it out and making the safe play, maybe hanging on and getting it to the forwards in a better spot.' Just things like that. He wants everybody to be playing with confidence. And that's sort of his message every day."
News not good on Olofsson
Winger Victor Olofsson sat out another day of practice and likely will be out at least Friday, if not the weekend, with his undisclosed "soft tissue" injury. What was initially not deemed serious when it happened in practice in San Jose on Nov. 1 has now cost Olofsson four games, with more to come.
"When we came back, the imaging that we did get still kept it day to day," Granato said. "It's not a three-week deal. It's basically an area that's inflamed and we're waiting for that to resolve. It impedes what he can do."
Goalie Craig Anderson (upper body) remains out, with Granato indicating Dustin Tokarski will start Friday and the Sabres will then evaluate their situation. Aaron Dell would seem to be in line to make his Sabres debut Saturday. Defenseman Will Butcher practiced fully Tuesday and should return Friday after missing the game in Washington.