Sabres Notebook: Jeff Skinner’s red-hot numbers vs. Habs fly in face of current offensive slump

MONTREAL – Jeff Skinner hit the ice Wednesday night in a bad slump, his worst in two years. The Buffalo Sabres were looking for him to snap it by once again making the Montreal Canadiens his personal pinata.

Horton’s career with the Sabres was short, only 124 of the 1,445 NHL games he played. Only one of his 115 goals was scored as a Sabre. But his impact was large, Harrington writes.

Skinner entered Wednesday’s game in Bell Centre with 26 goals and 46 points in 41 career games against the Habs. The goal and point totals are his most against any NHL team, as are his points per game (1.12).

Skinner entered the game, however, with just one assist in nine games since returning from the injured list. And he has totaled only nine shots on goal in the last seven games.

The last time Skinner was in this bad of a scoring rut was in January and February 2022. He went without a goal in 11 of 12 games during that period. The lone exception? A four-goal, five-point night in the Bell Centre.

Skinner downplayed the Habs being his fix-it team.

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“Sometimes that’s just the way the schedule works. I think the way you come into a building and you’re playing well, and sometimes you get rewarded,” Skinner said. “That happens a couple of times and it becomes a story. We’ve got to focus on what we’re doing. We’ve got some good things in our game that we want to continue.”

Skinner, who was once on a 35-goal pace, has been stuck on 17 goals since Jan. 9 against Seattle. He then missed five games with an upper-body injury and has not cracked the net in the last nine since returning.

“It’s managing ups and downs,” Skinner said. “Obviously, for me personally, it’s been not a great stretch. But I think it’s about how you can help the team. There’s been spurts in that stretch where I feel like getting back to kind of what I want to do. Now it’s about prolonging them.”

Clague in, Ryan Johnson out

Rookie Ryan Johnson, who was minus-4 Monday, was a healthy scratch Wednesday night and Kale Clague made his season debut on the third pair with Erik Johnson.

“I think it’s an opportunity to decompress a little bit, see the game from a different angle and perspective and get a moment to breathe,” coach Don Granato said of Ryan Johnson. “It’s a luxury for a guy his age to kind of have had that to take a moment to breathe and reset.

“That was a tougher game for him. And obviously, Eric is his partner and they both had some challenges.”

Clague, who played 33 games for the Sabres last season and 25 for Montreal in 2021-22, has been exclusively an AHL player this year. He has three goals and 20 assists in 42 games for Rochester.

“He has plenty of experience with us and we have plenty of trust and confidence in him,” Granato said. “So it’s easy to slide him in. He’s been ready to go, he keeps himself ready to go. And consequently, give Ryan that moment to breathe a little bit.”

One month removed from his last scratch, Jokiharju is skating on the top defense pair next to Rasmus Dahlin and shouldering the heaviest workload of his NHL career while the Sabres wait for Owen Power to return from injury.

Granato said the coaches felt Clague has taken big steps in his game from the end of last year.

“The message was stay ready for your opportunity,” Granato said. “And in the process, keep getting better, because you’ve done a great job with both of those.”

Power on the mend

Sabres defenseman Owen Power, still out day to day with what’s believed a wrist injury, took the morning skate in a non-contact sweater and did do some drills with the puck.

“We’ll get a gauge now,” Granato said. “But it’s really pain tolerance and a vulnerability. You saw him taking shots in motion, so there’s only a couple of movements that give him pain or he needs to get strength in that area.”

The buzz in Habs’ home

The Sabres entered the game 3-1 in their last four trips to Bell Centre – but 0-2-2 in the Canadiens’ last four jaunts to KeyBank Center.

There was far more media in the stands and in the Buffalo dressing room than during an average road morning skate, especially for a team that started the night 12 points out of a playoff spot.

“It is a buzz playing in this place. It’s the history in this building and of the Montreal organization,” Granato said. “This building is loud and crazy and the guys feel it even before your preparation. You know what you’re getting into. It’s easy for hockey players to get excited playing in a Canadian city but specifically this one.”

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