Tuch in leading role to help hometown Sabres end 11-year playoff drought

WASHINGTON -- Alex Tuch has a lifelong stake in the Buffalo Sabres' bid to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season for the first time since 2011.

The 26-year-old forward grew up in Syracuse, New York, rooting for the Sabres and fondly remembers their runs to the Eastern Conference Final in 2006 and 2007. His favorite player was Buffalo forward Tim Connolly, whose parents are still neighbors with his parents in Syracuse, but he can list many others from those teams, including Daniel Briere, Chris Drury and Thomas Vanek.
"I want to get back to those times. I really do," Tuch said earlier this week. "I want to help the Sabres in any way possible get back to winning ways, get back to the playoffs, because the city of Buffalo loves their sports teams. They love the Bills and they love the Sabres.
"That's faltered at times because of the lack of success that we've had in the past 10 years. So hopefully I can be one of the guys to help turn that around."
In his second season with Buffalo after being acquired in the trade that sent center Jack Eichel to the Vegas Golden Knights on Nov. 4, 2021, Tuch has done his share to help the Sabres climb into the playoff race this season, setting NHL career-highs with 30 goals, 34 assists and 64 points in 59 games. But Buffalo (33-28-6) has work to do to end its 11-season postseason drought. It is six points back of the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders, who are tied for the first wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference, heading into the finale of a three-game road trip at the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, NBCSP, MSG-B, ESPN+, SN NOW).
With an average age of 26, the Sabres are one of the NHL's youngest teams and Tuch is among the few players on their roster who have been through a playoff race before. Tuch reached the postseason four times with Vegas, including a trip to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final, and hopes his experience can be of value to Buffalo's younger players.
"As you get older you try to become more consistent, and you learn how to become more consistent," Tuch said. "Seeing those guys go through the ups and downs of the season, I'm trying to lend and help them out and be a person that they can come to talk to and ask questions and that kind of thing, because I went through the same thing."

Tuch isn't immune to the ups and downs of a playoff chase, but knows through experience how to handle them. This week provided a perfect example.
After missing eight games with a lower-body injury, Tuch returned and scored two third-period goals to help Buffalo rally for a 4-3 victory at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday. Two days later, Tuch took a roughing penalty with 2:24 remaining in the third period that led to forward Tom Wilson's tying 6-on-4 power-play goal with 1:08 left in an eventual 5-4 shootout loss at the Washington Capitals.
When the Sabres dressing room opened after the game, Tuch sat in his locker stall, ready to answer questions about his penalty, "a bad decision" in his words.
"It's unacceptable," he said. "I'm not a rookie. I've been in this league a couple years now and I know time management. I felt like I let the team down tonight."
Buffalo coach Don Granato avoided blaming the shootout loss on Tuch's penalty, saying, "We all need after a loss to look in a mirror."
Granato said he appreciates how important Tuch will be for the Sabres through their final 15 regular-season games and, possibly, beyond that.
"The experience is big and the experience he's gone through in Stanley Cup Finals, that's big," Granato said. "But he elevated his game personally. He is a completely different player than he was a year ago, even four or five months ago, obviously, having career-highs in points and goals. So he's reached an entire level that is new to him in his career and I think that he's empowered because of that.
"He feels that he's more impactful now than he's ever been in his career and that's the difference for me."

Watching from the outside, former Buffalo captain Brian Gionta said he has been impressed by Tuch's impact. And as a Rochester native, he's enjoyed seeing a fellow New Yorker embrace the challenge of helping them become a playoff team again.
"It's fun to see how excited he is to be here playing for the local team," said Gionta, who retired as a player in 2018. "It's fun to see him. He's got that enthusiasm around him that carries over to everybody."
Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, in a playoff race for the first time in his five NHL seasons, mentioned Tuch's enthusiasm and positivity among the traits the Sabres missed when he was injured, along with everything he does on the ice, from his 5-on-5 play to the power play and the penalty kill. Buffalo went 2-5-1 in the eight games Tuch sat out.
"He's young, but very experienced," said Dahlin, who will turn 23 on April 13. "He knows what to do, always stays calm and he's a guy you can rely on."
Tuch's emotion following the shootout loss to the Capitals exemplified how crucial each game is for a team battling to get into the postseason. But as someone who proudly professes to have "bled red and black," which were Buffalo's colors when he was growing up, he also understands the importance of the bigger picture.
Buffalo has been waiting for a long time to get back to playing in meaningful games in the final month of the regular season, and this is part of a process that won't end regardless of if they qualify for the playoffs.
"We're just all in this room happy to be part of the plan and continue to develop," Tuch said. "We have such a young team. That's what we're going to continue to do. So we're getting there, we are, and I think it's getting noticed by a lot of teams, let alone the fans and the hockey world. They know they're going to have to come in and play their best to beat us."