Jeff Skinner has 21 goals this season and the Buffalo Sabres are understandably pumped to see him back on pace to again become a 30-goal scorer. But even when he's not been scoring in recent games, Skinner has been making an impact and that's a change from recent years.
Skinner got rewarded Wednesday in Toronto with a breakaway goal in the third period of the Sabres' 5-1 victory over the Maple Leafs and it was the capper of a night that saw him give the Toronto defense fits. The Sabres look to continue that kind of attack when the Minnesota Wild come to KeyBank Center on Friday night.
Skinner had six shots on goal in the game and was credited with four takeaways. He tipped the puck away from Leafs defenseman Rasmus Sandin right to center Tage Thompson for a goal with 1:29 left in the second period that put Buffalo up, 3-1. Skinner then scored by beating Petr Mrazek with a quick snapshot after Sandin fumbled Morgan Rielly's cross-ice pass to him in the neutral zone.
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"We wanted to be aggressive, as aggressive as we could be," Skinner said after practice Thursday afternoon downtown. "I think when you’re playing a team with that much skill, you want to try and take away their time and space as much as you can. So in order to do that, you have to be aggressive and sort of have to hound the puck. I thought we did a good job of that.”
Skinner had scored in just one of his previous 13 games, that being his four-goal outburst Feb. 13 in Montreal. But he had at least four shots on goal in seven of those games and Thompson had been driving the line's offense.
"I think you always want to try and help the team win and producing offensively is obviously a big part of my job," he said. "But at the same time, you have to find ways to be a positive impact on the game when you don’t score. So that’s kind of how I look at."
Coach Don Granato said he's been happy with Skinner's play even without the goals coming like they did earlier in the season. Buffalo's top line continues to produce offense, with Thompson up to 23 goals and right winger Alex Tuch remaining a point-a-game player in his 23 games with the club.
"'Skinny' has expectations tagged on him from the day of his most recent contract, the fact that he scored 200-some goals in the NHL," Granato said. "With that come elevated expectations. And I don't believe either of his linemates have such lofty, such intense expectations. He has dealt with it very well in my estimation. It's a great job by him and I think he's led those two guys in ways that you wouldn't really notice."
The Sabres have proven they can play with elite teams this season. They have wins over Tampa Bay, Edmonton and Pittsburgh in addition to Wednesday's throttling of the Leafs. They went toe-to-toe with Colorado, the NHL's top team, in both meetings, and lost their other game in Pittsburgh in overtime.
Some of their struggles come against bigger teams playing a heavier style, like in last week's games in St. Louis and Dallas. Minnesota is a bit of a hybrid of those two. The Sabres pulled out a 3-2 shootout win when the teams met Dec. 16 in St. Paul.
How does the kind of style the Sabres used Wednesday translate to games like Friday?
"To play our game, we need to have pucks where we can pursue them," explained Granato. "It's looking and seeing, 'OK, where's our speed coming? Let's put the puck to that area so we can pressure.' It's all about that pressure and forcing that pace. If you've got a bigger team, bigger defensemen, make them skate. ... We're challenged to do that consistently. And as I felt (Wednesday), when we play better, we do that."
"We want to focus on our strength, which is our speed and our aggressiveness, and being able to transition quickly out of our end and through the neutral zone into the offensive zone," Skinner said. "I think a lot of times when we’re playing well, sort of no matter who the opponent is or what their style is, there’s a lot of similarities in our game and a lot of that comes down to just speed being the strength of our team."
Miller trying to get up to speed
Defenseman Colin Miller took the morning skate Wednesday in Toronto, then practiced Thursday in a non-contact role. After the workout, he added a rehab skate.
"I’m still getting up to speed, so definitely still some progress to be made," said Miller, who had surgery for an upper-body injury and hasn't played since Jan. 15. "But positive that things are going in the right direction."
There's no timetable for Miller's return. As a right-shot defenseman, he is widely listed as one of the Sabres' top targets for the NHL trade deadline. Of course, he's got to get back in the lineup to become attractive to teams.
"It's so up in the air you never know what's going to happen," said Miller, who has two goals and 10 assists this season. "You just take it day-to-day and see where the cards fall."
Winger Vinnie Hinostroza, who hasn't played since Jan. 17 due to a lower-body injury, practiced fully again as an extra Thursday and could be an option in upcoming games.
Vaccine updates
Friday's game will be the first this season in KeyBank Center where fans won't be required to produce proof of vaccination for admittance. Meanwhile, the NHL announced that fans will not be required to provide proof to enter Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton for the Heritage Classic between the Sabres and Leafs on March 13.
