Last season, the Sabres\u2019 inconsistent man advantage improved slightly as the playoffs wore on, producing nine power-play goals in the seven-game Montreal series. That, per Quinn and Appert, is due to an increased presence around the net, which continues to be stressed at this year\u2019s camp.<\/p>\n
That also means players like Tage Thompson \u2013\u00a0known for his marquee one-timer \u2013 might be utilized a bit differently this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that when Tage was getting all those one-timer goals, the league was killing a little bit differently, too,\u201d Appert said. \u201cThere was a little more pushdowns, and if you solve that pushdown to the top, that flank one-timer was open. Well, teams aren’t doing that (anymore); they’re sitting in tight and sitting on one-timers now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thompson had success at the Olympics when he was fastened up close to net, gathering passes in the low slot and still utilizing his hard shot. This year\u2019s Sabres power play might see a multitude of players in that position \u2013 whether it be Thompson, Josh Doan, Zach Benson or anyone else \u2013 but keeping pucks low and anchoring players beneath the hashmarks are what the group believes will yield success on the man advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost everybody in this league can kill really good for 20 seconds, but to be able to kill really good for 40 or 60 gets really hard,\u201d Appert said. \u201cGuys that win puck battles and solve pressure in those low areas of the ice usually can extend those possessions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quinn quietly turning heads<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been hard to keep your eyes off Jack Quinn this week.<\/p>\n
The newly minted 25-year-old scored twice at the Blue & Gold Scrimmage on Saturday, but his performance as of late extends beyond what fans have been able to see. Quinn has buzzed around the ice, clicking seamlessly alongside new linemates Noah Ostlund and Zach Benson.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he has (taken) another step,\u201d Ruff said on Saturday, adding that Quinn\u2019s line was \u201cprobably the best line on the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quinn is entering the final year of his two-year deal signed back in June 2025 and is a plausible candidate for a breakout season. Circumstance has not been entirely kind to Quinn in his young NHL career, as a 2023 Achilles injury inflicted some turbulence on his journey to become the star Buffalo believes him to be.<\/p>\n
Goals scored in practice and preseason don\u2019t count \u2013 but Quinn has certainly scored a lot of them. And coming off a 20-goal season \u2013 his first staying healthy for the full 82-game duration \u2013 his play so far indicates he\u2019s ready to raise those numbers even more.<\/p>\n
\u201cI (have been) trying to get stronger and faster still, and keep working on my shot and be able to hang on to some pucks a little more,\u201d Quinn said.<\/p>\n
Danforth\u2019s long-awaited debut<\/p>\n
Justin Danforth will candidly admit it \u2013 he\u2019s never been more excited for a preseason game.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter you miss a year of hockey, (you realize) you kind of take it for granted when you’re healthy and you’re playing games,\u201d Danforth said. \u201cI\u2019m just excited to get back out there with the guys on the ice and show these guys what I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last season, the Sabres\u2019 inconsistent man advantage improved slightly as the playoffs wore on, producing nine power-play goals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-900855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}