BUFFALO, N.Y. — Physical play, a continuing point streak and an NHL first are all top of mind heading into the final game of a long Atlantic Division matchup stretch for the Buffalo Sabres.
Scoring his first NHL goal Tuesday night against Columbus, forward Josh Dunne has been elevated from Rochester for the most part since the beginning of the season. He’s making a statement with his physical play to try and stay in Buffalo.
“It makes it a lot easier to play with guys like [Beck] Malenstyn and [Peyton] Krebs,” Dunne said, on top of noting that they help bring out the best in his physical style of play. “They create so many chances and create so many battles. So it’s just fun to kind of get in the game.”
The team will also be joined with some more physical play, as foward Jordan Greenway is cleared to go for Thursday night’s game against Boston game.
Through it all, head coach Lindy Ruff is more impressed with this roster than he was at this time last year with some major changes, but still more than enough room to improve.
“I’ll go first to puck management. We’re managing the puck better,” Ruff said, having a team that he compared Tuesday night to last year’s roster as one that is not letting late-game leads turn into pure losses over the last two contests, but at least a four-game point streak. “I think staying away from the defending and staying away from the the high-danger opposition chances, has been better. We still need to improve. We’ve given up, you know, one game against Toronto, three breakaways again last night.”
A good point marker for any 10-game stretch in an NHL season is 12 points; the Sabres fell just two short of that. Ruff says they need to improve on the little things to make sure that they hit that mark for these next 10 games that start on the road Thursday.