(WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres haven’t played a game since this past Sunday in Philadelphia against the Flyers. They’ll be glad to get back at it on Thursday in New Jersey against the Devils.
Buffalo has won three of its last four games, and the hot Tage Thompson is a good reason why. Thompson has points in four-straight games, scoring four goals with five points. He also has 13 goals and 21 points in his last 19 games.
Coming into this year, Thompson’s career-high for goals in a season was eight. This year he has 36!
Since March 27, the Sabres have played 13 games and they’re No. 1 in the NHL on the power play with a 41.2% success rate. In those 13 games, Victor Olofsson has five goals and seven points with the extra man, while Peyton Krebs is next with six assists. That means their top-two scorers on the power play during this streak are on the second unit.
“It’s a lot of things, but one key component is Victor Olofsson is doing really well," said Sabres head coach Don Granato. "His wrist is back to, what I would say is normal, so he’s an added threat there. But two units is huge.
“Our second unit has been good, and we’ve concentrated on spreading the wealth as far as skill. The joke behind the scenes here is there’s not a second unit, because we think both can score.”
Granato talked about how most of these units might be together for years to come. He used the example of Alex Ovechkin and Nick Backstrom having been on the same power play unit for 10 years. He sees that as a possibility for his young players moving forward.
The Sabres' power play units are Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin, Casey Mittelstadt, Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch. The other unit is Olofsson, Krebs, Dylan Cozens, Henri Jokiharju and Kyle Okposo.
The Sabres announced that Craig Anderson will be in goal on Thursday. He’s 2-3-0 in his last five starts with a 3.82 goals-against average and an .857 save percentage.
Overall this season, Anderson is 16-12-2 with a 3.15 goals-against average and an .896 save percentage.
In the last five games, the Sabres have been able to cut down on the shots against them, giving up 28 or fewer in four out of the five games.
New Jersey has won both games against the Sabres this year, and lately have been hot, going 3-1-1, all on the road. The Devils walked into Vegas on Monday and gave up 44 shots to the Golden Knights, but still won 3-2.
The Devils have lost four-straight at home.
Head coach Lindy Ruff has been without his top-two goalies for a lot of this season, with both Mackenzie Blackwood and Jonathan Bernier being injured.
Star center Jack Hughes is also out for the season after scoring 26 goals and 30 assists for 56 points in 49 games before being hurt.
Jesper Bratt is the team's leading scorer with 25 goals and 70 points in 71 games. Bratt is also a Sabres killer with 17 points in 17 games.
Another key player that the Devils have sorely missed is Miles Wood, who has only been healthy enough to play three games this season.
Ruff’s next win will give him 783 career victories to pass Hall-of-Famer Al Arbour for fifth all-time in the NHL.
Join Mike Schopp for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. ET when you’ll hear from Granato, Krebs and Mittelstadt.
***Photo: Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres)
