Sabres Newsletter 1/24/2022
A look at the week that was, the week that will be, and more Buffalo Sabres news
Buffalo Sabres center Peyton Krebs (19) celebrates after scoring a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Joshua Bessex)
Welcome to the first edition of the Buffalo Sabres Newsletter!
This newsletter will be coming out every Monday. I’ll review the week in Sabres hockey that was, as well as preview the coming week. I’ll also touch on some of the major news items of the week as far as Sabres are concerned, and update on some Sabres prospect news.
Without further ado, let’s get into it!
The Week That Was
Games
Monday, January 17- Sabres 2, Red Wings 3 (OT)
Tuesday, January 18- Sabres 3, Senators 1
Thursday, January 20- Sabres 4, Stars 5
Saturday, January 22- Sabres 6, Flyers 3
It was a busy week for the Sabres, playing four games in six nights. Impressively though, the Sabres were able to come away with five points out of a possible eight. But, as the theme of the season goes, the results are not the storyline. More players were added to an already legnthy injury list, while young players had an opportunity to fill in (and also get hurt). Also, Buffalo’s decimated goaltending corps put on an impressive(ish) showing despite minimal expectations. Some of the highlights (or lowlights) are:
Injuries continue to plague Sabres- The biggest story of the season added another chapter as injuries continued to lay waste to the Buffalo Sabres roster.
On top of that list, Jack Quinn was injured in Thursday’s loss to Dallas. The Sabres cannot catch a break when it comes to injuries this season. It’s kind of getting ridiculous. But speaking of Quinn…
Jack Quinn scores first goal- In his second game with the Sabres, Jack Quinn netted the first goal of his NHL career. It was a bar-down laser beam on the power play, off a slick pass from Rasmus Dahlin.
Quinn also added a secondary assist on Dylan Cozens’ second-period goal to give him a two-point night. It was an exciting and promising showing for the young forward. But again, because he plays for the Sabres, he was promptly injured.
It’s reported to be a lower-body injury and is expected to miss “some time” according to Sabres GM Kevyn Adams. It’s suspected that the injury occurred early in the game against Dallas, but Quinn was able to gut it out and finish with 13:15 of ice-time on the night.
According to Paul Ross of WKBM Buffalo, the timeline for Quinn’s injury is four to six weeks. Yikes.
Craig Anderson returns to practice- There was actually some promising injury news last week! Goaltender Craig Anderson returned to practice on Friday. He was a full participant, which is some of the first promising news when it comes to the 40-year-old netminder. Anderson was injured in a November 2nd game in San Jose and has not played since. Though there isn’t a specific timeline on his return yet, any help in goal would be welcome news for the Sabres.
Krebs nets first goal (and second)- Peyton Krebs notched the first two goals of his NHL career in the Sabres’ impressive win over the Philadelphia Flyers Saturday afternoon. Though his first goal came off a slight deflection of a Henri Jokiharju shot and won’t exactly make highlight reels, his second of the night was one to remember. Krebs came out of the penalty box and took a slick Rasmus Asplund pass for a breakaway, and made no mistake about burying a top-shelf backhander.
Given the Sabres injury trouble and Krebs’ impressive play, I have no doubt he is in the NHL for good.
Mattias Samuelsson makes his season debut- In what was a no-brainer move, young defender Mattias Samuelsson was called up from Rochester and made his season debut Monday against Detroit. Though injury is what prompted the call-up, Samuelsson has been by far Rochester’s best defender all year, and it was only a matter of time before he was up with the big club. Some feel that Samuelsson would have made the Sabres right out of camp if it weren’t for an injury he sustained in the preseason prospect showcase. Regardless of circumstance, Samuelsson looked at home in the NHL, making strong defensive plays and averaging roughly 20 minutes of ice time throughout the week.
Risto Returns- Rasmus Ristolainen made his return to Buffalo on Saturday, playing against the team that picked him eighth overall in the 2013 draft for the first time. A polarizing player during his time in Buffalo (to say the least), Risto was traded to Philadelphia over the summer for Robert Hagg and two draft picks (including a first-rounder). Sure enough, Ristolainen scored in the first.
Quick hits- Other notable performances of the week include Tage Thompson (2 goals, 5 points in 3 games), Rasmus Dahlin (6 points in 4 games), Alex Tuch (2 goals, 6 points in 4 games), Jeff Skinner (3 goals, 6 points in 4 games)... Rasmus Dahlin will represent the Sabres in the NHL All-Star Game in Las Vegas on February 5. Tage Thompson was eligible to be voted as a “Last Man In”, but ultimately lost out to Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos… The NHL announced an updated schedule in an attempt to make up games postponed in late December/early January. Games were added in February during what was supposed to be the Olympic break. You can find the updated schedule here.
The Upcoming Week
Schedule
Tuesday, January 25 at Ottawa Senators, 7:00 pm EST
Saturday, January 29 at Arizona Coyotes, 9:00 pm EST
The Sabres have a relatively light schedule this week with only two games, though both are on the road. They will be crossing the border to take on the Ottawa Senators in what one assumes to be an empty building Tuesday night. Saturday night has the Sabres taking on the hapless Coyotes in the first of a three-game western road trip. Both games are against objectively inferior opponents, though given Buffalo’s injury troubles the games will most likely be very competitive.
The Senators have been playing some decent hockey of late, giving both Pittsburgh and Washington all they can handle last week before finally earning a win over Columbus on Sunday. Though the Senators are below the Sabres in the standings, they have an intriguing crop of young players (much like the Sabres) and generally compete hard under head coach DJ Smith.
The Coyotes are a bit of a different story. Though they had mixed results this past week (two wins, two losses), the Coyotes are largely devoid of talent and are in the midst of a tank season (kind of like the Sabres one could argue). Arizona sits second-last in the NHL (hilariously one point ahead of Montreal), and often look about as bad as the 2014-15 Buffalo squad under Tim Murray. That being said, Arizona is another team that competes hard and could catch the Sabres sleeping. Buffalo can use these games as an opportunity to try to work some of the bugs out of their game.
Sabres Prospect Update
The Rochester Americans had a relatively rough week, losing two out of three games. Top prospect JJ Peterka showed well in two of those games though. The German sensation tallied four points in those two games and pushed his season total to 30. Buffalo’s injury problem coupled with Peterka’s continued strong play is all but sure to get JJ more games in the NHL.
2021 top pick Owen Power continued his impressive season at the University of Michigan, scoring two points in Michigan’s weekend series against the University of Minnesota. Power now has 26 points in 24 games for Michigan and remains one of the top defensemen in college hockey. It was also reported this week that Power will likely be on Canada’s Olympic roster for the 2022 games in Beijing.
Fellow 2021 first-round pick Isak Rosen had a strong showing last week in Sweden. Though he did not register a point in two games with Leksands in the SHL (Sweden’s top pro league), Rosen did score four points in two games with Leksands’ junior team in the J20 Nationell. Overall this year, Rosen has scored four points in 28 SHL games (two goals, two assists) and nine points in eight games at the J20 level (four goals, five assists). Overall, Rosen does not get a ton of playing time in the SHL, but it is nice that he is able to go back to the junior level and still be a dominant player.
The Sabres also have two second-round picks from the 2021 draft in Alexander Kisakov and Prokhor Poltapov playing in Russia. Though Poltapov did not play any games this week (it appears his team may be shut down due to COVID), Kisakov had an impressive week. Kisakov scored six points in four games for Dynamo Moscow’s junior club in the MHL. Overall this year, Kisakov has been a point-per-game player at the junior level, scoring 34 points in 34 games. Kisakov also played four games in the KHL so far this year but has no points.
Though he is having an other-worldly season at Northeastern, touted goalie prospect Devon Levi had himself a tough weekend. Levi allowed three goals on 34 shots in a Saturday loss to UMass. He was pulled from Sunday’s game (also against UMass) after giving up four goals on twelve shots. Despite this hiccup, Levi remains one of the top goalies in college hockey, boasting a 1.55 goals-against average and a .948 save percentage.