When he took part in the tribute video on RJ Night, Sabres winger Alex Tuch introduced himself as "Alex Tuch, lifelong Sabres fan." As he's said multiple times, a big reason for that was growing up outside of Syracuse listening to Rick Jeanneret's calls of big moments in Sabres history.
Tuch scored his 11th goal of the season Thursday night against the St. Louis Blues and it probably has the biggest meaning to him of any with Buffalo because it was his first one with Jeanneret at the mic.
"I did listen, it was hard not to," Tuch said with a huge smile after practice Friday. "I even had a couple of people tweet it at me and I was like, 'Oh, I'll give this one a listen.'"Â
"It was special, very special for me and because it was Owen's first point in the NHL. I found out that it was RJ with the call on it so I was like, 'I'm gonna save this one.' Growing up, that voice, that energy helped me fall in love with the game of hockey. It's something that will always be special to me."
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Jeanneret's call: "Alex TUCH (big emphasis) tucked that one home and now it's tied at 2."
The retiring Sabres voice has three games left in his career, including Saturday night's game here against Philadelphia, and was glad to hear Tuch was happy to get a goal called by him.
"I didn't know that. Rayzor (analyst Rob Ray) brought it up last night during the game," Jeanneret said when reached Friday at his Ontario home. "He mentioned that again right after the goal so as of that moment, I was aware. I was not aware going into the game. But that's pretty neat."
Alex Tuch scores. Owen Power gets his first point of his NHL career. primary 🍎#LetsGoBuffalo #stlblues pic.twitter.com/rbyyHhskbK
— Buffalo Hockey moments (@SabresPlays) April 15, 2022
Jeanneret has been hugely impressed by Tuch's commitment to the team since he was traded from Vegas in November and debuted in late December.
"It's amazing that since he got here, the team is playing a lot better," Jeanneret said. "I'll give most of the credit to Don Granato, but Alex is definitely in the mix there somewhere."
Tuch was also impressed by the play made by Power to get him the puck in the slot.
"I don't even think (Power) ever looks down at the puck. He's always got his head up on there," Tuch said. "He's a really special player with his poise. Like I said before, he looks like he's played in the league for 10 years. I definitely know why he went first overall."
Practice report
Granato tinkered with his lines during Friday's workout but would not commit to the changes holding for Saturday's game.
Granato had Victor Olofsson playing with Jeff Skinner and Tage Thompson; moved Tuch with Peyton Krebs and Casey Mittelstadt; and took a player off three lines to make a new trio of Dylan Cozens between Rasmus Asplund and Kyle Okposo. Anders Bjork skated on a fourth line with Zemgus Girgensons and Vinnie Hinostroza, with Cody Eakin and John Hayden as extras.
"We have to be a team and these guys had no issue swapping linemates this morning and that's what we wanted," Granato said. "I'm undecided what we'll do in the game. It could look like it did in practice today, it could look like it was in the last game. Not certain. We're running down to the end here and, really, it's in our best interest to get as many different looks as we can."
Mattias Samuelsson missed practice for the second consecutive day after taking a shot to the leg from Auston Matthews during Tuesday's game in Toronto. Granato said he's hopeful Samuelsson will play in one of the two games in the home-and-home this weekend vs. Philadelphia.
Blues notes
In St. Louis' 6-2 win here, Blues forwards Vladimir Tarasenko (hat trick) and Robert Thomas (five assists) became just the third pair of teammates to have five-point games against the Sabres in the regular season. It was a feat that had not been accomplished in more than 41 years.
According to longtime local stat guru Mike Haim (a member of the Sabres' off-ice scoring crew) and his son, Marshall, the last duo to do that also played with St. Louis as Tony Currie and Bernie Federko pulled the trick in a 7-4 win on March 28, 1981. It was also done by Fred Stanfield and John Bucyk in an 8-2 win over the Sabres in 1970. In the playoffs, Rick Middleton and Barry Pederson had five points each in a 6-2 win over Buffalo on April 18, 1983.
Thomas and Tarasenko became the first Blues players with five points since Dallas Drake on Oct. 29, 2003, and the first St. Louis teammates to do it since Sergio Momesso had six points and Brett Hull added a hat trick and five points in a 9-3 win at Pittsburgh on Oct. 18, 1989.
