Two teams that have reversed directions in the past month will go head-to-head when the Buffalo Sabres host the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night.
The Sabres have won 12 of their past 13 games following an 11-14-4 start to the season, while the Ducks have lost eight in a row and 12 of 14 after a 19-10-1 start.
“Confidence is obviously a thing with us,” Sabres right wing Josh Doan said. “Learning that we can be a team that can win and push back a little against some of these teams with good players, but trusting each other and having fun on the bench. I think that’s been the biggest thing is there’s a lot of support on the bench no matter what’s going on, and when you have that, it’s easy to build off of it and lean on each other.”
The Sabres most recently posted a 5-2 win at the New York Rangers on Thursday, marking the first time since Nov. 23-Dec. 19, 2005, that Buffalo won 12 times in a 13-game stretch.
“As a group that maybe hasn’t done as much as we should have in the past, I think we finally kind of turned a corner learning how to close out games,” Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson said. “I know the Rangers had a really good push, but (we) found a way to get it done.”
Doan scored the first goal of the game, marking goals in four consecutive games for the 23-year-old and totaling 14 in 42 games this season, double the number he scored in 51 games last season. Many of his tallies have come in close quarters.
“He’s a hound around the puck, great at finding that open area around the net,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said of Doan. “He’s probably got the best numbers of anybody in that small area around the paint.”
The Ducks have lost their last two games and three of their last four by a score of 5-2. They’ve allowed at least five goals in six of their past seven games.
Early in the losing streak, they struggled with scoring first, but they’ve accomplished that in the past three games and still lost.
“Decent first (period) and we’re in a pretty good position late in the second,” Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville said after the most recent road loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. “(Then) we fed into what we don’t want to do, (which) is turn the puck over. (The Hurricanes) can play with the lead and check as good as there is in the league when they do get that lead. We didn’t generate much as the third went on.”
Anaheim still had a 2-1 lead late in the second period against the Hurricanes but surrendered two goals in a 2:03 span, leaving the Ducks chasing for the entire third period.
“When they tied it up and got the lead, we just sagged,” Quenneville said. “Sure plays is what we’re talking about, and they weren’t so sure.”
Anaheim played Carolina without the team’s co-pointers leader, forward Troy Terry, who missed his first game of the season with an upper-body injury. Quenneville doesn’t expect Terry to miss much time.
