Alex Tuch shows his value as Buffalo climbs out of last place: Sabres thoughts

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For the first time since Dec. 16, the Buffalo Sabres are not in last place in the Eastern Conference.

The Sabres’ 13-game winless streak sank them to the bottom of the Eastern Conference, and it took 3 1/2 months for them to climb out of that spot. Their 5-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, along with a Bruins loss to the Washington Capitals, put Buffalo one spot ahead of Boston in the standings.

The Sabres have now won five out of their last six games to help them stave off elimination from the playoffs until at least the weekend. This winning stretch could also push Buffalo down the draft order; the Sabres are tied with the Penguins for the seventh-worst points percentage in the NHL. But draft position is far from the minds of the players in the locker room, who have been dealing with the frustration of another season of losing.

Performing once the pressure is off doesn’t do anything to erase what happened early in the season. Nor does it ensure anything about next season. But it still feels necessary for some of these players to get even the slightest bit of confidence to cling to heading into the summer.

“We’re locked in to a better style,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff told reporters of the team’s recent ability to close out games.

Peyton Krebs was the one who helped the Sabres close this game out. Krebs has points in five straight games after scoring a key goal early in the third period against the Senators. Krebs picked off a cross-ice neutral-zone pass from former Sabre Dylan Cozens and took the puck right down the ice to score, giving the Sabres a 4-1 lead.

Cozens finished the game minus-4, and the Sabres swept the season series against the Senators. That ultimately won’t matter, though, because the Senators are inching toward clinching a spot in the playoffs for the first time since the 2016-17 season. The Sabres will be extending their league-record playoff drought to 14 seasons.

The time for players to reflect on that disappointment will come. For now, they’re at least showing they’re going to finish this season strong.

Tage Thompson is third in the NHL with 39 goals this season. (Marc DesRosiers / Imagn Images)

1. Tage Thompson is now third in the NHL with 39 goals and leads the NHL in five-on-five goals. Those numbers won’t mean much to Thompson when he has to watch the NHL playoffs from home again, but the bounce-back season from Thompson is important for the future of the franchise. The Sabres need star-level talent, and that’s what Thompson is when he’s playing like this.

“We haven’t won since I’ve been here, so there’s a lot more I can do,” Thompson told reporters after the game.

His move to the wing has helped him regain his scoring touch. He’s more often first into the zone as a winger and it’s leading to more chances. The question is whether the Sabres will keep him on the wing, and if they do, what that means for their top-six center spots. Going into the season with Jiri Kulich and Josh Norris as the top two centers on the depth chart is a gamble given Kulich’s youth and Norris’ injury history.

2. Alex Tuch joined Thompson in bouncing back this season. He picked up his 32nd goal of the season on a net-front rebound. Not only is Tuch back over the 30-goal mark, he is also tied for the league lead in short-handed goals and has the second most takeaways of any forward in the NHL. He also leads all forwards in the NHL in blocked shots, and he’s played every game for the Sabres this season.

He’s the team’s best two-way forward and is eligible to sign a contract extension on July 1. Provided he’s willing to stick around to see this rebuild through, Tuch should get a contract offer that makes him Buffalo’s highest-paid forward.

3. James Reimer was back in net for the second straight game, and he’s now won five straight starts. He has a save percentage above .917 in four of his last five starts and pushed his save percentage for the season to .900.

Reimer is 37, so he’s far from a lock to be back with the Sabres next season. But his recent performance underscores how much of a boost steady goaltending could have given this team when times were tough earlier in the year. Will that motivate the Sabres to make sure they have a veteran on the roster again next season?

4. Jack Quinn extended his point streak to five games with an impressive assist. He won a puck battle to strip Thomas Chabot of the puck behind the net and then found Rasmus Dahlin for a scoring play. The competitiveness and puck battles have been lacking in Quinn’s game all season. He needs to make plays like that regularly to earn a role with the Sabres next season.

5. Two noteworthy performances on Buffalo’s blue line: Jacob Bernard-Docker led the Sabres with five blocked shots in this game, and Mattias Samuelsson had two assists and was plus-four. It helps to be paired with Dahlin, but Samuelsson’s game has been much steadier during this winning stretch for the Sabres.

(Top photo of James Reimer: Marc DesRosiers / Imagn Images)

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