Kyle Okposo heard what people outside KeyBank Center are saying about the Buffalo Sabres.
Okposo insists he doesn’t care. He and one of his longtime teammates aren’t playing like it, though.
Mike Harrington: Sabres punch up in weight class and party on in latest knockout
With each shift, shot on goal, drive to the net and forecheck, Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons are showing media members across North America that losing isn’t on the mind of any player in the Sabres’ dressing room.
Facing their most difficult test yet, Okposo and Girgensons used their blend of blue-collar tenaciousness and savvy play with the puck to lead the young, mostly unproven Sabres to a 5-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in front of an announced crowd of 7,376 on Tuesday night.
“They were great,” Sabres winger Jeff Skinner said. “Especially early on, I think we needed a bit of a spark and they provided it for us. They’ve been great all season so far, and it’s big moments when they’ve come up big for us. Hopefully they can keep that up for us.”
"Anybody on the other side of the ice expecting an easy night is forewarned: The first step to respectability is not giving opponents a night off. The Sabres are getting there fast," writes Mike Harrington.
The Sabres are 3-0 to start the season for the first time since 2008-09. The roster back then boasted the beloved Ryan Miller, Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy and Jason Pominville.
There are no playoff heroes on this version of the Sabres. The star power isn’t around anymore, either. Fueled by a collectiveness that hasn’t been evident with the club in recent years, Buffalo has proven its skeptics wrong through the opening days of the season.
It all starts with the Sabres’ two leaders in the room: Okposo and Girgensons.
Neither was discussed much by the media during the offseason, and both were left exposed in the Seattle expansion draft. Okposo, a 33-year-old amid his 15th NHL season, hasn’t recorded double-digit goals since he had 14 in 2018-19. Girgensons missed last season with a hamstring injury suffered during a training-camp scrimmage.
It was unclear where either would fit in a youth movement led by Dylan Cozens, Casey Mittelstadt, Rasmus Dahlin, Henri Jokiharju, Rasmus Asplund and Tage Thompson, among others. It turns out that Okposo and Girgensons are leading the way.
“All our guys need experience, they need situations. It’s the only way they’re going to learn," coach Don Granato said.
With Mittelstadt still out because of injury, Okposo tied the score 1-1 when he collected a pass in the neutral zone from Girgensons and bolted down the right wing before beating goalie Thatcher Demko with a shot short side over the glove at 8:22 into the first period. The goal was the 200th of Okposo’s career and his second in three games this season. It revived the Sabres after an ugly start to the game.
Girgensons, 27, tied the score again at 17:37 into the second period – moments after an unsuccessful four-minute power play for the Sabres – by tipping Okposo’s shot in to make it 2-2. Through three games, the duo and their linemate, Cody Eakin, have combined for five goals and nine points.
"I just kind of got away from the game and really refocused on putting my best foot forward this year," Okposo said of his offseason. "I knew that there was a lot of different (media) coverage about our team coming into the season and I just kind of wanted to block all that out and just focus on myself and go play.”
The Sabres pushed their lead to 4-2 with Skinner and Thompson scoring 23 seconds apart early in the third period. Asplund added an empty-net goal, providing insurance for goalie Craig Anderson, who made 32 saves.
The Canucks, who were without defenseman Quinn Hughes, are now 1-2-1 and were outshot by Buffalo 43-34.
Michigan, with a stacked roster featuring Sabres prospects Owen Power and Erik Portillo, moved into the No. 1 spot in both major college hockey polls.
Okposo arrived in July 2016 as a prized free-agent signing, brought to Buffalo to shepherd a push to contend with Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart. Now, Okposo and Girgensons, the current longest-tenured Sabre, are instilling pride in a quest to achieve what this franchise hasn't during the decade-long playoff drought.
“That line works so hard,” Cozens said. “Obviously, three veteran guys who we all look up to and know we can learn a lot from. Every time those guys are on the ice, they’re working as hard as they can and grinding the other team down.”
Here are more observations from the game Tuesday night:
1. Sure, it’s only three wins in October, but this is significant.
The way the Sabres are playing is more important than the result. You’re seeing relentless pressure on the puck and maximum effort on every shift. This style of play resembles what we see from successful teams around the league. You couldn't say that about Ralph Krueger's Sabres.
There haven’t been enough quality scoring chances at 5-on-5 and yes, it’s important to note that teams across the league are playing with poor structure this early. But it’s an encouraging start to what many thought would be a lost season.
“There is a reason why they are 3-0,” Canucks coach Travis Green said. “You can see how fast they are. They are good with the puck. But when I look at the sheet at the end of the night and we have nine forwards that don’t have a blocked shot and eight that don’t have a hit, we didn’t pay a big enough price to win tonight.”
2. The Sabres didn’t need the first intermission to rebound from a slow start.
The Canucks outshot Buffalo 5-0 for the first 4:30 of the game, only for the Sabres to have a 11-3 advantage over the 15 minutes that followed. During that span, Okposo tied the score and the Sabres controlled possession in the offensive zone, although their breakouts and passing were sloppy at times.
Still, the Sabres entered the intermission trailing 2-1 after goals by Bo Horvat and Justin Dowling.
"We were challenged to find our game and challenged to fight through," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "I thought it was a heck of a game, but it wasn’t like we weren’t trying the first six minutes. They were on us pretty good the whole game."
3. Notable performances up front.
Thompson had another strong performance at center. He scored the Sabres’ fourth goal by jamming a rebound past Demko and totaled a team-high six shots on goal. Thompson also won 56% of his faceoffs.
Cozens had two assists, including one on Girgensons’ tying goal, but the 20-year-old had zero shots on goal and went 0-for-6 in the faceoff dot. Asplund, meanwhile, led all Sabres forwards with 18:25 of ice time, and Skinner scored his first goal of the season on one of his signature backhanded shots.
4. Next
The Sabres will practice Wednesday and Thursday in preparation for their game Friday against the Boston Bruins in KeyBank Center. Former Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark is expected to make his first start of the season for Boston.
