Both plays showed a fearlessness to attack the game. It's a relatively new approach for Dahlin, the genesis of which goes back to when Don Granato replaced Ralph Krueger as coach March 17, 2021.
"The way he came in, the way he talked to us and made us play fearless," Dahlin said. "And don't think. Those are his two key words, just go ahead and do your thing and [stuff] will happen. But as long as you try and keep trying, things will get better.
"I was scared to do mistakes. I was scared to have a minus and that's never a good thing. It just got worse when we played. Just personally, [Granato] helped me so much to just to go out there and do my thing."
Granato has seen Dahlin up close since joining the Sabres as an assistant in 2019-20 and isn't shocked by his supercharged play.
"I don't think I'll ever be surprised with what Dahlin does," Granato said Thursday. "He competes so well. He works in between games. He'll be hard at work tomorrow morning. He's relentless with his work ethic. He always keeps himself ready to take advantage of any opportunity he can."
Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams said that Dahlin has always been a player driven to succeed. Now he has the advantage of playing for a coach who trusts him.
"The message to him has been, 'Be fearless, play the game the way you need to play to thrive and we're all in this together,'" Adams said Friday. "And for him not to go out there, any player but especially Rasmus, you can't go out there and be afraid to make a mistake or be afraid that if he does something wrong, he may not be out there for the next shift. That was a quick message from Donny right away when he took over and it's kind of helped Rasmus maybe just calm down a little bit and just say, 'OK, I'm going to go be my best every day,' and with the talent and the work ethic that he has, that's a pretty good package."
Dahlin isn't just scoring, he's also keeping other teams off the scoreboard. He's been on the ice for two even-strength goals-against, and his plus-6 rating is tied for second in the NHL, trailing only Shea Theodore of the Vegas Golden Knight (plus-7). Dahlin is averaging 18:56 of even-strength ice time per game, while Theodore is averaging 17:57.
Dahlin has helped the Sabres start the season 3-1-0 heading into the third of a four-game trip through the Pacific Northwest, at the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SNO, SNP, MSG-B, ESPN+, SN NOW).
"The guy is playing lights-out lately, not only offensively but defensively," Sabres forward Alex Tuch said. "He's not getting scored on at all out there. He's locking it down. He's playing against their top lines and scoring against top lines and top [defense] pairs. He's jumping in but he's not allowing a bunch of 2-on-1's happening up the ice too. He's one of the smartest players I've ever played with. I don't even think he's come close to being as good as he can be."
Dahlin has been pretty good since the Sabres selected him with the No. 1 pick of the 2018 NHL Draft. He has 166 points (35 goals, 131 assists) in 281 games, and played in the NHL All-Star Game last season.
But that fearlessness is allowing him to maximize his skill set.
"Rasmus is an incredibly driven, determined person," Adams said. "He just pushes himself so hard in every way to be the best. He lives it every day, which ultimately helps him but it also helps the players around him. I'm not just talking about the games. His mindset and maturity and the way he practices and how hard he competes in every drill in practice and every rep. … Everything matters, every day matters. Everything that he does matters to him.
"He's also very, very good at just being present and just being there that day to say, 'OK, this is where I'm at, this is what I'm going to do', and not being caught up in everything else that could be going on. Sometimes that's lessons you have to learn especially when you come into the league with a lot of attention and a high profile and such a young player. You forget he's in his fifth year now. Starting his fifth season, but he's 22 years old. So it's exciting."
NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen and independent correspondent Aaron Vickers contributed to this report
