Observations: Sabres’ strategic shift produces 9 goals in ‘statement’ win over Leafs

He wasn’t the only one, either.

The Sabres weren’t only embarrassed when they were booed in KeyBank Center and heard groups of fans chanting for their coach, Don Granato, to be fired Tuesday night. They were enraged and disappointed in themselves for allowing it to happen.

“We took last game personally on a lot of different levels,” said Alex Tuch late Thursday night.

There was only one practice to prepare for their next game, which happened to be against their bitter rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs, but there was enough time for the players and coaching staff to decide one simple change was needed. Everyone agreed that the only path forward was to go back to the fast-paced, aggressive style of play that propelled the Sabres to the cusp of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season.

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It may lead to more scoring chances against, but how much worse could it get after they allowed nine goals at home to an opponent that’s rebuilding? And by going back to the run-and-gun style of play, the Sabres could build confidence, then gain a clearer picture of where and how they can improve defensively.

The strategic shift helped the Sabres embarrass their Atlantic Division foe, as Jeff Skinner and Kyle Okposo produced four of their season-high nine goals in a 9-3 win over the Maple Leafs on Thursday night in KeyBank Center.

“I thought we owed one to ourselves,” said Tuch, who had four assists to help the Sabres avoid a three-game losing streak. “We owed one to our coaching staff. They come in and work really hard for us each and every day. There might have been a disconnect and a couple issues here and there with how we were playing, what our game plan was and what our mentality was, but that doesn’t leave this room. That’s us and the coaching staff, it’s all 20 guys on the ice. It’s whoever’s not playing that day. It’s all eight coaches. It’s all trainers, equipment managers, it’s all of us together.

“We’re going to continue that mentality going forward and we took it personally. A team coming into our building and …. We didn’t like it. We wanted to make a statement and it was just nice to do so against the Leafs.”

Jordan Greenway, Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Tage Thompson and Jack Quinn also had a goal apiece for the Sabres, who received a bounce-back performance from Devon Levi with 25 saves by the rookie goalie.

Ilya Samsonov, Toronto’s goalie, was replaced in the second period after he allowed five goals on 19 shots. His backup, Martin Jones, didn’t fare much better. The Sabres blitzed the Maple Leafs tandem with 34 shots on goal and 65 shot attempts. Buffalo’s top line of Tuch, Skinner and Thompson combined for three goals and 10 points. Six Sabres had multiple points, including multi-assist games for Zach Benson and Connor Clifton.

The Sabres looked like the team that ranked third in the NHL in goals scored and produced 91 standings points last season, not the one that sunk toward the bottom of the league with their 9-4 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets at home on Tuesday night.

“You go through a season last year, you finish where we finished, there’s analytics, there’s everybody, ‘This needs to change, that needs to change,’ and you start focusing on what needs to change and sometimes you lose yourself,” said Granato when asked about the systemic change.

The rejuvenated Sabres reached a tipping point in the first period that challenged their psyche and the strategic changes that were implemented after the latest ugly loss. They scored the first goal for a second consecutive game, and only the 14th time in 34 games, but the Maple Leafs responded with two goals in under six minutes to take a 2-1 lead in the first period.

There were no doubts on the Sabres’ bench as to how they needed to respond. They forechecked aggressively. Their defensemen were quick to try to strip the puck from Maple Leafs forwards when Toronto crossed over Buffalo’s blue line. The Sabres didn’t hesitate to leave their defensive zone and sent tape-to-tape passes to create odd-man rushes.

Power tied the score when he shot a rebound into the empty net after Benson and Casey Mittelstadt almost turned a 2-on-1 into a goal. Tuch intercepted a pass by Mitch Marner, then set up Jeff Skinner in front to make it 3-2, Buffalo, with 4:09 left in the first period.

The Sabres added three goals in the second period and three in the third to become the first team to score nine-plus goals one game after allowing nine-plus goal since the Red Wings did so on Dec. 21-23, 1983. Buffalo had nine high-danger scoring chances, frustrated Toronto with its physical play and never seemed fazed by the Maple Leafs’ two goals in the first period.

As Granato reminded reporters following the game, it’s only one win. The Sabres (14-17-3) need to play that way often if they’re going to make a steep climb up the standings. They’ve won consecutive games only once this season, owning a 1-9-3 record after a victory. But they made a statement with a performance that could finally move them closer to playing the way they did last season.

“In order to knuckle it down defensively, you’ve got to get to your game first,” said Okposo, who had two goals and almost scored a third on a breakaway. “We have to establish that identity first and then you can work out the little details because if you don’t lay a foundation in your identity then nothing else is gonna matter. … We just haven’t been at our game enough to where we can say, ‘Ok, we need to fix this defensively because this is how we’re playing and this is how we correct this.’  That was a good step into who we are.”

Here are other observations from the game:

It’s no coincidence the Sabres’ special teams looked much better with a healthier lineup.

Even their power play showed promise, beginning only 62 seconds into the first opportunity when Dahlin scored with a high wrist shot to increase Buffalo’s lead to 4-2. The Sabres need to clean up the mistakes when they’re on the man-advantage, as they were reminded moments later when they allowed their sixth shorthanded goal of the season, but we’re seeing both groups earn more time in the offensive zone.

The penalty kill also looked much better with Greenway and Quinn back. It was the first time this season that Buffalo had its top six forwards in the lineup at the same time. Skinner also returned after missing the previous three games because of injury.

“Having Greener back to set the tone in his first shift was amazing,” Okposo said of Greenway, who missed the previous nine games with an upper-body injury. 

The Sabres missed Greenway.

He creates space for his linemates by hanging onto the puck in the offensive zone, and he was one of the reasons why Buffalo had one of the best penalty kills in the league prior to its rash of injuries. Greenway, a 6-foot-6 winger, has looked like a much better offensive player with the Sabres than he was during his time with the Minnesota Wild. Samsonov seemed surprised on the opening goal of the game when Greenway sent a quick shot on net that beat the Maple Leafs’ netminder only 2:27 into the first period.

Granato had to make a change on defense.

The pairs weren’t working, particularly the one with Owen Power and Henri Jokiharju. The latter was playing some of the best hockey of his career earlier this season, but he’s struggled recently. A different partner was needed for Power, who hasn’t been able to break the puck out of his own zone with the same efficiency that we saw from him as a rookie.

Ryan Johnson is a perfect fit and replaced Jokiharju in the lineup Thursday. He’s been excellent at defending and understands how to break pressure when he has the puck in his defensive zone. 

“I think Ryan Johnson had one of his best games of the year,” said Tuch.

The Sabres travel to New York to face the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

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