Sabres storm back against Penguins to win 3rd in a row

Alex Tuch walked into the Buffalo Sabres dressing room and saw the sweater hanging in his stall, yet another reminder of his fandom.
While older fans identify with the crest featured on the Sabres' current home and away jerseys - the iconic charging buffalo and crossed swords - Tuch grew up adoring the "goathead" logo worn by Ryan Miller, Jason Pominville, Tim Connolly, and other stars of the early 2000s.
Tuch wore that logo for the first time on Wednesday, the centerpiece of the Sabres' new Reverse Retro jerseys. He will wear it again in black and red later this month.
"When I put it on, I had to look down and I went into the bathroom and looked at myself, and it was special," he said. "I can't even imagine what the red and black is going to feel like."
He was able to make his own memory wearing the logo, burying a feed from Tage Thompson on the rush for the winning goal in the Sabres' 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The victory was yet another testament to the resilience of the young Sabres, who erased a 3-1 deficit in the third period. They have outscored opponents 20-7 in third periods through the first 10 games of the season, the best differential in the NHL.
"I think that's something that we slowly learned last year, that we needed to bear down and not sit back and continue to press and continue to play our style of game," Tuch said. "I thought we did that tonight."
Tage Thompson had a goal and an assist to continue his red-hot stretch with 11 points over the last three games. Victor Olofsson added two goals while JJ Peterka and Kyle Okposo scored one apiece.
Eric Comrie made 18 saves.
The Sabres have now won three straight games - including two third-period comebacks - to improve to 7-3-0 this season. They outshot their opponents by a combined tally of 169-99 during their four-game homestand, with a pair of tough road games against Carolina and Tampa Bay on the horizon.
In the meantime, there's plenty to discuss. Here's the breakdown of a comeback against the Penguins.

How it happened

PERIOD 1
The Sabres generated an 11-6 shot advantage but fell behind on Jason Zucker's goal scored 6:28 into the contest. Evgeni Malkin forced a turnover inside the Pittsburgh zone and set up Zucker on a 2-on-1 rush.
PERIOD 2
The Penguins doubled their lead on another odd-man rush, which ended with Ryan Poehling getting the pass across to set up a goal for Josh Archibald.
Peterka put the Sabres on the board with 1:09 remaining, burying a shot from above the right faceoff circle to conclude a long shift in the Penguins' zone.

PERIOD 3
The Penguins opened the period on the power play and scored immediately off the opening draw, with Kris Letang delivering a stretch pass to send Jake Guentzel in for a breakaway goal.
The Sabres were undeterred, keeping their aggressive mentality and tilting the ice against a Penguins team that had surrendered a 5-2 lead in an overtime loss to the Bruins one night prior.
"A little bit more determination, assertiveness, aggressiveness," Sabres coach Don Granato said of the difference in the third period. "I didn't feel we had that enough to the level our guys are capable of through the first two, and they found that in the third."
Thompson ignited the comeback with a power-play goal, burying a one-timer from the left circle fed by Rasmus Dahlin.

Olofsson added his own one-time goal just 3:08 later, made possible by the work of Owen Power at the point. Power carried the puck forward, faked a shot to draw in the defense, and put a pass right on Olofsson's tape, leaving the forward with an open net.

"Completely empty net by virtue of Owen not only freezing the goaltender and freezing everything, but making the perfect pass right into the wheelhouse of Victor," Granato said. "The velocity perfect. Location, perfect. Timing. So, that obviously says a lot."
Tuch put the Sabres in front with 9:26 remaining, finishing a feed from Thompson on the rush.

Okposo added an empty-net goal with 1:36 left as a result of a strong forecheck by Zemgus Girgensons that negated an icing call and then Olofsson potted his second of the night into the empty cage with 6.6 seconds to play.

What we learned

1.The shift that preceded Okposo's empty-net goal - a crucial moment that gave the Sabres' breathing room late - was prototypical Girgensons. The Sabres' alternate captain won a race to negate an icing and then battled in the corner to maintain possession, losing his helmet in the process. He was hustling back to the bench when Okposo scored the goal.
"Oh, he's a workhorse," Tuch said. "You don't have to tell that guy to work ever. He comes into work each and every day and he's one of the most professional people I've ever played with. He's not super vocal. I mean, he's not afraid to speak up, but he just goes in and works. It's just awesome being able to play with a guy like that.
"He sacrifices his body and everything just for the crest, so that means a lot to play with a guy like that."
2.Granato felt one other moment late in the game was telling. With only seconds left on the clock, Dylan Cozens and Casey Mittelstadt were in the middle of a scrum in front of the benhes.
"I literally had 10 guys, I turned around on the bench, they wanted to be the next guys out," Granato said. "I loved the aggressive competitiveness of our group."
3.Power skated 23:51 and earned a pair of assists, though it was his defensive game that he felt took a leap.
"My main focus coming into this game was my gap," he said. "That's what has been causing me a lot of problems this year. I went in with my main mindset on that and trying to kill plays as quick as possible."
The Sabres outscored the Penguins 3-0 with Power on the ice at 5-on-5.
"I think tonight was my best game of the season so hopefully I can just build off it and keep getting better," he said.
4.We cannot get through a postgame report without writing about the exploits of Rasmus Dahlin. With two assists tonight, he upped his season point total to 14 - the most in the NHL by a defenseman this season and the most in Sabres history by a defenseman through 10 games, according to NHL Stats.
Dahlin skated 29:25 and had five shots, two hits, and four blocked shots. Of his 22:55 at 5-on-5, 18:02 was spent with either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin on the ice for the Penguins, according to NHL Stats.

5. Thompson is now the fifth skater in Sabres history to record 11 or more points in a three-game span, joining Pat LaFontaine, Rick Martin, Alexander Mogilny and Jason Pominville.
6. With tonight's win, the Sabres have now recorded at least one point in four straight games against the Penguins for the first time since they tallied at least one point in five straight games against Pittsburgh from November 28, 2008 to December 29, 2009.

Up next

The Sabres play back-to-back games on the road beginning Friday night in Carolina. The game can be streamed exclusively on ESPN+ beginning at 7 p.m. Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray will have the radio call on WGR 550.