2. Know Your Enemy
The Sabres are coming off a 5-1 drubbing of the Oilers Monday night at home, their second straight win.
While Buffalo is 1-5-2 on the road, they improved to 6-3-2 at the Keybank Center.
Noah Ostlund opened the scoring in the first period – his first of two on the night – before Jack Roslovic tied things up in the second period for Edmonton.
But Bowen Byram and Beck Malenstyn then tallied in the middle frame, with Ostlund and Tage Thompson rounding out the scoring in the third period.
Colton Ellis made 32 saves in the victory for the Sabres, while blueliner Rasmus Dahlin had a pair of helpers.
“I think the biggest thing in the third is still being aggressive,” former Calgary Hitmen player Malenstyn told media postgame. “Getting that extra goal puts more pressure on them, all of that kind of stuff. But realistically it was sticking to that same game plan. Maybe there’s a few plays that you aren’t quite as aggressive, you keep a guy back, but for the most part, I thought we played on the front foot, which allowed us to keep them under pressure and not give them anything for free.”
Buffalo was winless in their previous five outings before putting together these pair of wins.
“I thought both sides of the puck, probably our best game,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “Even leading in the third period we had a lot of really good decisions with the puck and stayed away from any type of high-danger opportunities.”
