While the Buffalo Sabres' NHL group has been traveling through Europe, their prospects and AHL players have been given a unique opportunity to play an NHL preseason schedule for the last week.
Buffalo's prospect team finished its four-game run with a 3-1 record after Monday's 4-3 overtime win against the Detroit Red Wings in KeyBank Center. Konsta Helenius, Buffalo's first-round choice in June, won this one with a one-time slapper from the left circle off a power play with 12.6 seconds to go in the extra session.
The Sabres' official preseason record, which doesn't count the main club's victory over Red Bull Munich, will go down as 5-1, as the prospects won games at Pittsburgh and Ottawa, and had a 2-0 lead Saturday at Columbus before falling 6-3 to a largely NHL-laden Blue Jackets lineup.
"It was surreal, humbling, a lot of emotion," said first-year Rochester Americans coach Mike Leone, who made quite a debut in pro hockey by directing a bench in four NHL arenas over the span of a week. "Just kind of my background and where I came from to be here (Green Bay of the United States Hockey League), I'm very lucky and very fortunate. It was an experience I'll never forget for the rest of my life.
"If you would have told me we would go 3-1 in these games, I would have signed on the dotted line. It was an unbelievable experience and really fortunate that our staff and everyone from Rochester got to be a part of it."
The Amerks are scheduled to open training camp Thursday morning at Tim Hortons Iceplex on the campus of Monroe Community College. They play their lone exhibition game Sunday at Syracuse and open the season Oct. 11 in Blue Cross Arena against Belleville.
"It's a pretty unique situation and being able to build our culture here in Buffalo is a really cool opportunity," said center Graham Slaggert, who scored twice in the game and forced OT with a short-handed breakaway goal with 6:03 left in regulation. "Going from sitting on a bus for a lot of hours to flying for 30 minutes, it's a big change, and something we really took advantage of and really enjoyed with each other. We're just really excited to get this group together back in Rochester and see where this year takes us."
The Sabres had a 44-21 advantage in shots on goal in the game, dominating play for long stretches. The shot count was 18-5 in the third period.
Slaggert and Viktor Neuchev scored in the first period to give the Sabres a 2-1 lead and there was no scoring in the middle period. Detroit scored twice in the first 8 1/2 minutes to take a 3-2 lead before the Sabres rallied.
Here are three takeaways from the Sabres’ win:
1. Ostlund impresses again
Center Noah Ostlund, who scored in overtime in Ottawa and had three assists in Columbus, didn't get a point in this game but was again impressive with the puck. That's especially true in OT, when he dangled the Red Wings, got close to get a shot on Jack Campbell and drew the penalty that led to the Helenius goal.
"I try to use my skating and my stickhandling a little bit more when it's so much room," said Ostlund, drafted No. 16 overall in 2022 with the pick received from Vegas in the Jack Eichel trade. "So I think I am a pretty good OT player. You get confident when you do moves and they succeed. So you try to build that confidence up going to Rochester."
"He's been outstanding," Leone said. "I think I'm most proud how consistent he's been in these four games with his effort. ... His habits, his play away from the puck. He's playing in late-game situations. He's out there almost every other shift."
2. Sandstrom's struggles
Newcomer Felix Sandstrom, signed to man the crease in Rochester along with veteran James Reimer, had an ugly five-goal performance in just 29 minutes Saturday in Columbus where his positioning was off and he looked slow to react to plays.
Sandstrom was solid in this one for two periods, stopping 13 of 14 shots. But he again struggled in the third, flubbing a pair of shots that allowed the Red Wings to take the lead.
Sandstrom set a nice tone for himself by stopping Detroit center Dominik Shine on a breakaway 17 seconds into the game and stopped Shine again in tight just 16 seconds into the second period. He was beaten by Detroit first-round pick Michael Brandsegg-Nygard on a 2-on-1 break at 1:15 of the first but that was the only shot he didn't stop in the first 42 minutes of play.
Sandstrom, however, got beat along with ice on Eric Soderblom's short-handed breakaway at 2:05 of third and flat-out whiffed on William Lagesson's shot from the slot between his legs at 8:07.
"It's a belief and trust in him," Leone said. "He's a really good goalie. Obviously, he's played NHL games (with Philadelphia). Goalies go through that sometimes where they're maybe not sharp early in the season, but we believe in him, we trust him and at the end of the day, he found a way to help us win a hockey game."
3. Ryan Johnson update
The defenseman who should be playing 20-plus minutes a night for Rochester after playing 41 games for the Sabres last season has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury. Leone said Johnson is day to day and is hopeful the 23-year-old will be ready to practice on Thursday.
