Tonight the Sabres came out of the Olympics break with our Team USA star Tage Thompson getting a goal and an assist with a great game for UPL in goal to get a 2-1 win on the road in Jersey.
The night started with a great ceremony in Jersey honoring Jack Hughes and Team USA on their Gold win and Jack’s golden goal, and I thought in really nice fashion, Jack went over to the Sabres bench and brought Tage out on the ice to get honored with him before the two had an honorary faceoff.
Bit of a faster start to this game than I expected coming out of the break, and the Sabres looked pretty good, getting some nice looks in a scoreless first period on the road after three weeks off. Both teams had some great chances, but both UPL and Jake Allen came up big in goal to keep it a 0-0 game through 20 minutes.
Tage Thompson opened the scoring in this game 8:10 into the second period, right off winning gold, on a two on one with Payton Krebs, getting the puck, sliding beautifully to the middle of the ice and beating Allen to put the Sabres up 1-0.
With 9:24 to go in regulation, Peyton Krebs gave the Sabres a huge insurance goal, with Tage Thompson getting the puck on a turnover by his Team USA teammate and hero Jack Hughes at the Devils blue line, and setup Krebs on a beautiful goal in very similar fashion to the first goal these two connected on tonight. Timo Meier made it 2-1 with 2:30 to go in regulation, standing in the crease and continuing to try to tip it in the net until it crossed the goal line to turn it back into a tight game. The Sabres held off chaos in front of the net in the closing seconds to hang onto the win.
FINAL: Sabres 2, Devils 1
Great win to come out of the break tonight. Tage was solid coming back from Italy and partying all week, connecting with Peyton Krebs twice and UPL was spectacular in goal, making 27 saves on the 28 shots he saw. We outshot the Devils 30-28, despite getting out-chanced 24-19. Big win in the standings, getting in a three way tie with the Habs and Red Wings for second and third in the Atlantic. Gotta keep rolling. Back at it on Friday night in Florida against the Panthers. Every point matters.
Let’s Go Buffalo!
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