The Buffalo Sabres came back from the Olympics break like they had not gone away at all. If anything, they had kinda stumbled towards the intermission and have come out firing on all cylinders after, going 3-0-0 with three conference and two division scalps on the way.
Apologies this is a day late, had completely forgotten we’d started doing these posts before the break.
Honorable Mentions
Goaltenders Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Alex Lyon
UPL was very unfortunate to miss out on the Olympics after being selected in the squad but picking up an injury before the tournament. Finland went on to pick up the bronze, and the Sabres goalie must be bitterly disappointed to have not been able to represent his country.
He did return from injury last week and looks to have channeled that frustration into a positive, going 2-0-0, 1.50 GAA and a .955 sv pct.
The Lyon King continued his dominance of his former team the Panthers with his third win of the season against Florida, and currently sits at an astonishing nine straight road wins. He was 2.00 GAA and .966 sv pct.
Peyton Krebs
Krebsy has gotten some heat from the fans as an unexpected top line players, but has continued to make quite the mark during Zach Benson’s injury and illness absence. He has 12 points in his last thirteen games, and had four points in the last three, including two well-taken goals – one against the Devils and another empty-netter at the Panthers (his fifth of the season, tied with nine other players at the top of the league).
Player of the Week
Tage Thompson
There is only one Tage Thompson, and he is our winner for last week. After winning the Olympic gold medal with the United States team on Sunday and the subsequent partying and travel, a drop-off would have been expected and indeed accepted.
Instead, Tage rejoined the team as they resumed their NHL schedule and kept doing what he’s always done.. score. He scored the first goal of the game in New Jersey, and then his steal and set-up for linemate Krebs was the winner. Thompson then piled on the misery for Tampa Bay as the Sabres scooted out to a four-goal lead after the first period in the Lightning’s own barn on Saturday.
Many might disagree that Thompson is indeed a 1C, but he remains on track to match last year’s goal total and that kind of top-line scoring performance is nothing to shake a (hockey) stick at.