Pilut was paired with Rasmus Ristolainen to begin Tuesday's game against Toronto, with the duo used primarily against the line of Patrick Marleau, Auston Matthews and Kasperi Kapanen. He had a rotating cast of partners once Casey Nelson went down with an injury, limiting the Sabres to five defensemen, but the matchups remained difficult.
Of the 20:58 Pilut skated at even strength on Tuesday, 15:55 came with either Matthews or John Tavares on the ice for Toronto, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. He finished the night with a team-high 61.11 Corsi-for percentage, which bumped up to 76.47 percent during his 9:48 of shared ice time with Matthews.
It didn't happen by accident. Assistant coach Steve Smith, who handles the Buffalo defense, said the decision to play Pilut against Matthews and Tavares had its roots in the Sabres' prior game against Nashville.
"There were a few test runs where we threw him out against some pretty solid competition and he stood up to the test," Smith said. "Going up against [Toronto}, we knew we were going to have young guys who we're going to have to go up against them one way or another and as the game progressed, both of the kids (Pilut and Rasmus Dahlin) did very well so we continued to play them."
Smith came away impressed with what he sawa after going over Pilut's clips from the Toronto game on Thursday morning. He complimented the young defenseman's decision making and poise with the puck, echoing comments we heard from Housley back in training camp.
That poise showed in his own zone, where Pilut displayed an ability to make quick decisions under pressure. In one instance, he spun to evade a forechecking Matthews and quickly found an outlet in the neutral zone:
"I want to play against the best all the time," Pilut said. "It really gives you an extra edge when you have that winning mentality when you go into every battle, almost winning it before it's done."
Pilut led the AHL with 22 points in his first 15 games for Rochester at the time of his first recall on Nov. 21, teasing the offensive potential he had previously shown while playing in the Swedish Hockey League.
He's yet to tally his first point in the NHL, but it's not for a lack of trying.
"I think he really wants to get involved offensively," Smith said. "I'm actually kind of pulling him back at this point in time, trying to convince him that if he wants to stay in our lineup, he has to be solid defensively. We have a couple of guys who are pretty darn good offensively and we expect him to pay close attention to the defensive side of the game.
"I heard a saying once that if you've got a pair of aces, play them. If you've got a pair of deuces, hang back. ... When he has an opportunity, we're going to let him go. He's just got to find those opportunities because in this game, the mistakes that are made with wrong reads can end up in your net pretty quickly, versus the American League."
Smith felt that Pilut did a good job of taking what was given against the Maple Leafs. He stayed on the right side of bodies and showed a willingness to dump the puck into the corner when the situation called for it, but also found instances to add to the rush.
He created a scoring opportunity for Evan Rodrigues on this play, lofting a pass to the net-front after carrying the puck over the offensive blue line.
After evading Kapanen in his own zone on this play in the third period, he joined the rush and cut to the Toronto net in search of a rebound.
Pilut admitted he's easing into the offensive side of the game, but he feels like he's on the right track.
"I think I'm trying to improve on it as fast as I can and obviously, I have some steps to go, but I'm just going to keep working on it and trying to be more and more comfortable," he said. "Right now, I have a good feeling. I just want to keep going on that feeling."
