CHICAGO – For at least one prominent player, the Buffalo Sabres' magic March has not been much fun. That finally changed Monday in the madness of the team's historic comeback in United Center.
Winger Alex Tuch snapped an 18-game goal drought with someone guarding the net, and it was a huge one: The tying tally off a Victor Olofsson feed with 2:14 left in the 6-5 rally past the Blackhawks.
Until that play, the only goal Tuch had scored since Feb. 15 was his dramatic empty-net goal March 10 against Vegas, when he stole the puck from Jack Eichel and clinched Buffalo's 3-1 victory.
Tuch had 45 shots on goal in those 18 games that failed to find the net and was stuck on seven goals since the Eichel play.
"It's been a bit for sure. It's actually been even longer since I scored on a goalie," Tuch joked after Monday's game. "So obviously when it's not going your way, sometimes you're gripping your stick a little bit more. I was just trying to get it on net. There was an unbelievable play by (Casey Mittelstadt), just as nice of a pass if not better by 'Olli' (Olofsson). I don't know how he saw me. He said he must have heard me or something, put it right on my tape. So it's a great play by both of them. Yeah, that one felt good."
Tuch has 28 points in 35 games since joining the Sabres from Vegas (nine goals, 19 assists). But he has cooled considerably after a hot start that saw him pile up seven goals and 20 points in his first 19 games.
Tuch flubbed a great chance high over the net in the first period on a 3-on-1 break Monday but made no mistake in crunch time, driving the net hard and chipping the Olofsson pass over Hawks goalie Kevin Lankinen to get Buffalo even at 5-5.
"It was huge," said center Tage Thompson. "'Tuchy' works his butt off every every game and you know for him to get rewarded, the way he's been snake-bitten the past few games, I think everyone could see it on the bench there that everyone's jumping up and down."
Tuch has been a mainstay on the top line with Thompson and Jeff Skinner, but coach Don Granato broke them up for the second time in three games as they've been having defensive troubles.
"We tweaked lines again today, and I thought that was really good of our guys," Granato said. "We kind of got them out of their own head trying to be perfect and they just went to work harder."
Granato said the switch was particularly helpful to Tuch, who was immediately looser playing with Zemgus Girgensons and former Vegas teammate Cody Eakin.
"Totally different," Granato said of Tuch. "Everybody has come to know Tuch is a guy that cares. And he cares about lots of things. He cares about everything. That's his nature. Jumping to a different line snapped him out of any worry and concern of things weren't going well on one line and the chemistry wasn't there. His compete and work ethic just elevated, and he was a force from that point."
The Sabres improved to 8-3-2 in March, and their 18 points in the month were two behind NHL leader Calgary (9-3-2) entering Wednesday's game against Winnipeg in KeyBank Center. The Sabres' .692 points percentage was tied with the New York Rangers for fifth in the league. The team was off Tuesday.
In Monday's game, Kyle Okposo left Eakin's line and joined Dylan Cozens and Peyton Krebs. Vinnie Hinostroza, who left the Cozens line and took Tuch's spot with Thompson and Skinner, also scored a tying goal in the third period to make the score 4-4.
"My message to the team after was you get consumed and frustrated by perfection and we have to disregard that," Granato said. "When you win championships, these teams that win, they do it in imperfect situations. And we need to learn to accept that things aren't going to be perfect. Sometimes they're going to be really ugly. But you can't lose your compete and work ethic."
"There was no hanging our heads, there was no feeling sorry for ourselves," Tuch said. "It was just ''Hey, you know what? it didn't go our way. Let's just work on one goal at a time, one shift at a time.' Kind of that one-shift-at-a-time mentality, I think that really helped our group."
