Lindy Ruff hasn’t asked Tage Thompson if he’s still dealing with the bothersome injury that forced him to move from center to right wing earlier this month.
Thompson’s answer wouldn’t change Ruff’s mind anyway. The numerous scoring chances and flashes of elite skill have kept Thompson on the wing, and his remarkable performance Tuesday night against the Boston Bruins may cause Ruff to pitch him on the idea of staying there.
Thompson earned his seventh career hat trick by producing three goals – beginning with his 102.5 mph slap shot in the first period – and he added an assist to lead the Sabres to a resounding 7-2 win over the Bruins in KeyBank Center.
“Playing center, it’s a bigger responsibility,” Ruff explained. “He’s coming up the ice a little later. And when I look at what he was generating, and now what he’s generating just playing the wing and letting (Jiri Kulich) do the work, it only makes sense just to leave him there. And the fact he got three tonight should help me talk him into it.”
No coach would disrupt the chemistry created by Thompson, Kulich and JJ Peterka, especially not after two of the three accomplished a rare feat in Sabres history.
Peterka also scored three goals and added an assist against Boston. He and Thompson became the first pair of Buffalo players to have a hat trick in the same game since Drew Stafford and Derek Roy tortured the now-defunct Atlanta Thrashers on Jan. 18, 2008. Thompson and Peterka also became the first Sabres to record a plus-6 rating since Richard Smehlik did so in February 1998. Only one other NHL player has reached plus-6 in a game this season: Toronto’s Matthew Knies, who also did it against the Bruins.
Thompson and Peterka accounted for 10 of the Sabres’ 33 shots on goal, and the timing of their onslaught allowed Buffalo to recover from its few mistakes.
Thompson’s first goal, his fifth shot of 100-plus mph this season according to NHL Edge, happened only 55 seconds after Mason Lohrei gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead. Peterka’s second goal, a gutsy rush in which he split the defense before snapping the puck over Jeremy Swayman’s blocker, gave the Sabres a three-goal cushion 30 seconds after Brad Marchand cut their lead to 4-2.
“I feel like I’ve had some good looks, good chances, I feel like just they’ve been going in for me,” said Thompson, who has six goals with 10 points in his last seven games. “I think any time you’re getting looks, it’s a good thing. I think our line’s been doing a great job of generating and creating chances.”
Kulich’s emergence as a reliable top-six center earned the 20-year-old forward a home in Buffalo, strengthened the organization’s depth at one of the sport’s most important positions and allowed Ruff to make the bold move to keep Thompson on the wing. The Sabres have outscored teams 10-2 at 5-on-5 with Thompson, Kulich and Peterka on the ice.
Thompson has been a bright spot in a disappointing season for the Sabres. He has 25 goals and 44 points in 45 games. Only 11 NHL players have more goals than Thompson’s 101 since the start of the 2022-23 season. During that span, he has more than Nikita Kucherov, Artemi Panarin and Alex Ovechkin, among others. Thompson is an elite goal scorer, an invaluable asset for any NHL team, and he began to develop into one in 2021-22 when he was moved from wing to center by former coach Don Granato.
A breakthrough at the position convinced the Sabres to award Thompson a seven-year contract, the first franchise pillar identified by this regime as it moved on from its former core players.
"Just try to be adaptable with what position they want me to play, wherever in the lineup," said Thompson.
General Manager Kevyn Adams may make significant changes to his roster before the trade deadline March 7. The Sabres are last in the Eastern Conference at 19-26-5, even though their 5-on-5 goal differential is plus-3 through 50 games. They blew too many leads and took too long to snap a 13-game winless streak to remain in the playoff race. They're among the highest-scoring 5-on-5 offenses in the NHL, but they've been held back by a inconsistent power play and inability to close out wins.
The exceptional play of Thompson, paired with the improvement of his young linemates, is an important development to watch as Ruff tries to mold his players into a team that can win consistently.
“We’ve said through all of these, even in a lot of the disappointments, we’re in this thing together,” said Ruff. “I said I’m at the forefront. There’s a lot of different things we’ve tried that I think we’re finally getting a benefit from.”
Here are other takeaways from the game:
1. Peterka’s season
Peterka’s performance this season hasn’t met the expectations that he created with a career-high 28 goals in 2023-24.
The inconsistency in his play shouldn’t overshadow his impact, though. Peterka has 14 goals, and his 39 points are only five behind Thompson for the team lead. Peterka has been guilty of forcing cross-ice passes when a simple approach is needed, but the 22-year-old winger has the upside to be a fixture on the Sabres’ first or second line. His first goal Tuesday was an exceptional shot from the left circle, and his second showed his determination to fight through a check to score. He completed his first career hat trick with an empty-net goal.
“It’s really cool to see how much work he’s put in during the season, offseason, how much he’s grown as a player,” said Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who made 25 saves. “If there’s a guy who deserves a hat trick, I feel like it was JJ.:”
2. Habits
Ruff was bothered by a few of the Sabres’ turnovers after the game. Owen Power mishandled the puck and fell in the offensive zone, giving the Bruins a 2-on-0 rush that ended with Luukkonen making a spectacular glove save on Vinni Lettieri.
It wasn’t the only mistake, either. Dylan Cozens took a tripping penalty after he made a similar error earlier in the third period.
“That’s still an area I’d really like to clean up,” said Ruff. “That’s the area our staff is really working hard on, some of those decisions. To give up the 2-on-0 where Upie made one heck of a save, I was even clapping on that one.”
3. Roster questions
Two of the Sabres’ free-agent signings in July were healthy scratches against the Bruins. Another was waived Monday and assigned to the Rochester Americans. Nicolas Aube-Kubel, a Stanley Cup champion with the Avalanche in 2022, will be paid an NHL salary of $1.5 million to play in the American Hockey League. Connor Clifton, who signed a three-year contract with Buffalo in July 2023, did not play Tuesday night, either.
After an offseason in which the focus was reshaping the bottom-six, the Sabres had Tyson Kozak (22 years old) and Zach Benson (19 years old) on the fourth line Tuesday night. Adams and his staff need to do a better job adding impactful veterans like Jason Zucker and Ryan McLeod.
A few of Buffalo’s youngest players deserve credit for their reliable play and ability to earn ice time, though. Benson scored his ninth goal of the season Tuesday night. Kulich had an assist and a plus-4 rating.
4. Next
Rob Ray will become the 44th member of the Sabres Hall of Fame when the beloved broadcaster and former player is inducted in a pregame ceremony Friday night before a game against the Nashville Predators.
Doors open at 5 p.m., and the team is encouraging fans to be in their seats by 6 p.m. for the start of the ceremony. The game begins at 7:08 p.m.
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