'He was special' | Dahlin's dominant effort lifts Sabres to win vs. Canes

Mattias Samuelsson took his time and pondered the question.
Which of Rasmus Dahlin's heroics against the Carolina Hurricanes did Samuelsson find most impressive?
"Well, offense or defense?" Samuelsson finally countered.
Dahlin was his dominant self at both ends of ice Saturday afternoon, leading the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-3 victory in their must-win game against the Carolina Hurricanes at KeyBank Center.

Even his loaded stat line - one goal, two assists, three shots, two hits, and four blocks in 25:32 - falls short of depicting Dahlin's performance. It was how he accumulated those numbers - the effortless puck movement, the timely sacrifice - that told the story.
Samuelsson focused on the latter when he eventually settled on his answer. The game was tied 3-3 early in the third period. The Sabres would be in danger of being officially eliminated from playoff contention with a loss in regulation. Jesperi Kotkaniemi had the puck in the slot.
Dahlin laid out to block Kotkaniemi's shot at point-blank range. The Hurricanes regained possession and quickly worked the puck through the crease to Martin Necas, who was staring down an open net. Dahlin scrambled to his feet and laid out again, dropping his stick to the ice to block Necas' attempt.
The Sabres turned up the ice and scored the go-ahead goal seconds later.

"I think he's the best D in the league," Samuelsson said. "When you see a leader and the best D in the league laying out twice in two seconds to block two shots like that in a meaningful game, it means a lot on the bench and to everyone else."
It was Dahlin's offense that had the game tied in the first place. With Hurricanes forward Jesse Puljujarvi pressuring to force a turnover, Dahlin calmy shot a bouncing puck at the offensive blue line toward Jeff Skinner in the slot to initiate the sequence that led to Casey Mittelstadt's first-period goal.
The Hurricanes erased the early 1-0 deficit and twice built leads of their own. Dahlin waited for Alex Tuch to cross in front of goaltender Antti Raanta before firing from the high slot for his power-play goal, which erased a 2-1 deficit in the second period.

Carolina scored again and threatened to carry the lead into the second intermission. This time, Dahlin carved his way low into the offensive zone, leaving forwards Jack Drury and Paul Stastny in his wake as he twice pulled the puck to his backhand. When he crossed the hashmarks, he sent a pass through traffic to Mittelstadt for the tying goal.

"I was just kind of watching him skate around, then all of a sudden, I was just wide open and he still had the puck somehow," Mittelstadt said. "… He was pretty special tonight."
Mittelstadt was so impressed, he insisted Dahlin lead the handshake line after the goal.
"He should have probably gone down twice for that," he said.
It was the fourth performance of three points or more this season by Dahlin, who upped his season total to 72 points. It's the third-highest total by a defenseman in Sabres history, eclipsed only by Phil Housley (81 in 1989-90 and 77 in 1983-84).
That it happened as the Sabres continue to fight for the playoffs was what mattered to Dahlin afterward.
"It shows our character right now," Dahlin said. "We're not out of it. We've just got to keep battling. It's next game, next game. So how hard we battled to the end, it just shows that we really want it and we've got to do everything we can."