DENVER – Rasmus Dahlin was still in the visitors’ dressing room at Ball Arena while pregame warmups were underway, frantically lacing up his skates and strapping on his pads after finally learning that he was cleared to join the Buffalo Sabres on the ice Sunday night.
It was the latest unusual chapter in a chaotic 48 hours for Dahlin and the Sabres. Dahlin, Victor Olofsson, Rasmus Asplund, assistant coach Matt Ellis and four other members of the team’s traveling party, all of whom were asymptomatic, spent Saturday night in isolation after four rounds of Covid-19 testing that produced varying results, causing them to miss Buffalo’s win in Arizona.
Per NHL rules, each can test out of protocol sooner than five days by producing consecutive negative tests, but this does raise doubts about Dahlin's availability for the league's all-star game, which he is scheduled to participate in next Saturday at Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena.
When everyone in the group produced negative PCR tests overnight and another round of testing Sunday morning came back with the same results, they were cleared to join the Sabres in Denver. There was a catch, though. While the NHL and league doctors permitted travel, they wanted another negative PCR test from the three players and Ellis to permit them to participate in the game against the Colorado Avalanche.
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So, they waited. It wasn’t until approximately 30 minutes before puck drop that coach Don Granato knew his lineup. Dahlin and Olofsson were in, while Ellis was available to coach. Asplund was unable to play because of his late arrival. The news then took a turn for the worse.
Tage Thompson couldn’t play because of an injury suffered Saturday in Arizona, and Casey Mittelstadt exited the game in Colorado with an injury after the first period and didn’t return.
Balkin, 16, was playing in a high school hockey game in Connecticut game against Brunswick School when his neck was cut by an opponent’s skate during an on-ice collision. Balkin was rushed to a local hospital, where he died from the injury.
Undermanned with only 10 forwards and seven defensemen, and playing the second game of a back-to-back, the Sabres lost 4-1 to become the latest victim of the Colorado Avalanche’s remarkable 18-game win streak at home. Buffalo showed its mettle, though, firing 31 shots on net and receiving stellar goaltending from Dustin Tokarski, who made 32 stops.
"I'm really proud of our group today," said Sabres center Dylan Cozens. "With the adversity we faced these last two days, even this game, going down to 10 forwards and nine for a bit, we battled hard."
For the Sabres (14-23-7), good news this season has often been followed by calamity, particularly on the injury front. Given all the club has experienced, general manager Kevyn Adams summoned seven players from Rochester early Sunday, and the contingent took a 7 a.m. flight to join the team in Denver. Granato has rarely had every member of the young core on the ice, and he began this road trip not knowing whether he’d have two goalies to use in the Sabres’ three games in four nights.
The Avalanche are tied for first in the league with 67 standings points, their win streak at home was the fifth-longest in league history and they've won 10 in a row overall. Even without injured center Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado (32-8-3) overwhelms opponents with speed up front and on the blue line, and its top defenseman, Cale Makar, is the clear favorite to win the Norris Trophy.
“We’re really looking forward to what he’s going to do for our organization, and we have others,” GM Kevyn Adams said, referring to the several talented young players in the Sabres’ pipeline.
The Sabres didn't fold, not even after a difficult first goal against. The Avalanche won an offensive-zone faceoff, snapped the puck off the end boards and winger Mikko Rantanen beat Mark Pysyk to a loose puck before sending a pass form behind the goal line to the front of the net, where Gabriel Landeskog snuck behind Mittelstadt and beat Tokarski for a 1-0 lead at 7:49 into the game.
This game marked another display of resiliency by the Sabres. Without their top two centers when Mittelstadt was pulled from the game at the first intermission, Buffalo tied the score 1-1 only 2:37 into the second period when Cozens jammed a loose puck past goalie Darcy Kuemper. The Sabres outshot Colorado 9-1 over the first six minutes of the middle frame.
"I think that second period, first 10 minutes, was some of the best hockey we've played," Cozens added.
Adversity struck again. With the puck in the air following a Tokarski blocker save, Alex Newhook appeared to punch it toward Nazim Kadri, who scored on the scramble in front for a 2-1 lead at 11:15 into the second period. Granato challenged the call on the ice to no avail, putting the Avalanche’s fifth-ranked power play on the ice.
Only one minute, 48 seconds later, Rantanen one-timed a shot past Tokarski to make it 3-1 Colorado. The Sabres didn’t relent, challenging Kuemper early in the third, and they even played a portion of the final 20 minutes with only nine forwards after Olofsson took a stick to the face. The Avalanche's empty-netter with 1:03 remaining sealed the win.
"It was a bounce or two from going the other way and us winning that game," said Tokarski. "Credit to all our guys. They played amazing."
Despite two players taking commercial flights from Arizona on Sunday afternoon, and the entire team forced to adjust the altitude in Denver, the Sabres frustrated the Avalanche.
"Never quit," said Granto. "I told our guys we probably deserved better tonight and it's just the way it goes, but they should feel good about that compete."
How can the Sabres possibly slow down Cale Makar and the Avalanche?
Here are other observations from the game Sunday night:
1. Center depth
Cozens will be tasked with centering the Sabres’ top line if Thompson and Mittelstadt can’t play Tuesday in Las Vegas. It’s an assignment Cozens can handle. He’s already developed chemistry with Skinner and Alex Tuch. Cozens, 20, always seems to raise the level of his play when given such an assignment. He played well in the second period Sunday, carrying the puck confidently and driving to the net.
2. Stepping in
If the Sabres had other options, neither Tokarski nor Craig Anderson would have played on this three-game road trip. Granato admitted this before puck drop when describing the dedication of both veteran netminders, both of whom hadn’t played since November. Tokarski, 32, dealt with the lingering effects of Covid-19 for approximately seven weeks before pushing himself to return this weekend.
Tokarski stepped up in a big way, making several impressive saves, including a point-blank stop on Kurtis MacDermid in the second period.
"Honestly, my first reaction is she'll prove that she will be a GM in the NHL someday as well," said former NU women's hockey coach Margot Page of Émilie Castonguay.
3. Around the boards
The Sabres placed winger Zemgus Girgensons on injured reserve prior to puck drop. … The four support staffers who exited Covid-19 protocol Sunday will join the team in Las Vegas, but the Sabres needed help on the bench. They called up Rochester Americans assistant athletic trainer Kedryn Orrison Pilgrim, who according to the Professional Hockey Athletic Trainers Society, is believed to be the third woman to work a regular-season NHL game behind the bench in any capacity.
“That is awesome," Granato said of rrison Pilgrim. "She is very, very deserving. Obviously, she wouldn’t be here if she didn’t do a great job. It’s fun, I was just informed that she was only the third female behind the bench. That’s not enough because there’s so many qualified. But it’s great that she can kind of lead in that, be a leader and a pioneer in that category. It was neat for us to be a part of that as well.”
4. Next
The Sabres are scheduled to practice Monday in Las Vegas in preparation for their game Tuesday night against the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.
