BUFFALO, N.Y. — Most of the 15,721 fans who showed up to watch the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils play Friday rose to their feet with 4:51 left in the third period.
The score was tied at 2, and the Sabres had just finished their most dominant shift of the game. Connor Clifton and Henri Jokiharju narrowly missed the net. Then Bo Byram put a slap shot on net and Jordan Greenway got the rebound back on net. Jokiharju then got another shot off. Devils goalie Jake Allen stopped all three.
In 29 seconds, the Sabres had seven shot attempts and three shots on net before the Devils were able to desperately clear the puck for icing. The Sabres had the Devils locked down in their own end. They won puck battles and relentlessly snapped pucks at the net. As New Jersey’s players gasped for breath and readied for the faceoff, Buffalo’s fans were in a full-throated standing ovation for what they’d just seen.
“It’s huge,” Sabres forward Alex Tuch said. “You just roll it over. It’s a lot easier to roll it over shift after shift when you have a crowd with you. It’s a lot harder to roll it over when you have the crowd quiet or booing you.”
The Sabres lost the faceoff but got possession back. Tage Thompson put a shot on net but was denied. Then JJ Peterka won a race to a puck and passed it out to Rasmus Dahlin, who put another shot toward the net. Thompson was crashing toward the net and put the rebound behind Allen to put the Sabres up 3-2. The pop from the crowd was noticeable as hats rained down on the ice.
For Thompson, it was the third goal of a natural hat trick. The Sabres had fallen behind 2-0 in the first period. That was particularly jarring after the Sabres fell behind 5-0 at home against the Ottawa Senators and were booed off the ice Wednesday. Then the Devils got a pair of power plays. Thompson noted that was a bit of a “dagger,” but the Sabres’ penalty kill came through. So did Devon Levi, who made a handful of strong saves to keep Buffalo’s deficit at two.
Thompson got rolling 28 seconds into the second period when he snapped a shot that went through Allen’s glove. Later in the period, Thompson beat Allen glove side with another sizzling shot. His game winner wasn’t as pretty, but it jolted a crowd that had been waiting for a reason to come to life. The Sabres added two empty-net goals, including Thompson’s fourth goal of the game to put the Devils away.
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You would think people in Buffalo would have had enough by now. The Sabres are about to finish what would be their 13th straight season without the playoffs. But Thompson treated the home crowd to a show Friday night, and the fans responded in course.
“When your crowd is boosting your ego it’s more of a subconscious thing that happens, I think,” Tuch said. “Guys don’t really understand it, but it’s huge.”
Hockey fans in this town talk wistfully about what the buzz was like in 2005-06 when the Sabres made a run to the Eastern Conference finals. Fans of a certain vintage fondly recall the feeling in the Aud when Gilbert Perreault would pick up the puck behind the net and start to rush up ice.
These people want something to make them feel that way again. They’re desperate for reasons to love this team, even if the last 13 seasons have given them every reason to swear off the sport entirely. Thompson isn’t Perreault, but he’s a showstopper when he’s on his game. He was appointment television when he scored 47 goals for the Sabres last season, but he has just 26 this season after fighting through a broken hand earlier in the year.
“When he’s feeling it like that, I mean, he’s one of the best players in the world,” Tuch said. “I feel like he’s dominant out there and he just takes over games, and when you’re playing with a guy like that, I’m just trying to create as much room and space and get him the puck as much as possible. He’s going to be able to find himself in the slot there for a couple really good, grade-A opportunities and he was able to cash in, so I think that’s huge. If he continues to roll with that confidence, you never know what will happen down the stretch here.”
This could have been a lifeless game. It was Game 74 for the Sabres, and they’re close to mathematical elimination. They fell behind 2-0, but instead of letting mistakes compound the way they did against the Senators, the Sabres pushed back. It may be too little too late in the standings, but any bit of positive energy in the building matters for a franchise that’s lost a lot of goodwill with the fan base over the last 13 seasons. That energy matters.
“We need that,” Tuch said.
And it doesn’t hurt when it’s one of the Sabres’ biggest stars creating that buzz in the crowd. Thompson has been shooting at a rate similar to last season but doesn’t have the same point total to show for it. With more nights like that from Thompson, and the group as a whole, this Sabres season could have looked a lot different.
“I feel like throughout the course of the season I’ve had a lot of great chances and maybe been snakebit at times and maybe let that get to me a little bit,” Thompson said. “Obviously when one or two start to go in for you, that confidence starts to come back. So it was nice to have a game like this and get a few, and obviously the win is most important. I think that gets everyone in the room feeling good.”
(Photo: Timothy T. Ludwig / USA Today)
