The Buffalo Sabres were the NHL's surprise team in October. Yours truly had the Sabres pegged to start aggressively, but there were haters who bumped their gums and flicked their thumbs predicting doom and gloom for the Sabres.
When you listen to fools, the mob rules.
The Sabres are 9-2-2 (.769 win pervcentage) and take on the Washington Capitals tonight in DC in a battle for first place on the Eastern Conference.
On Friday afternoon, Sabres right wing Victor Olofsson has been named the NHL’s “Rookie of the Month” for October. "OlofssBomb" led all NHL freshman with 6 goals and 4 assists in 13 games played.
Olofsson's six goals have all been scored on the power play.
The 24 year old sniper honed his shooting craft while playing at Frolunda in the Swedish Elite League. His shot release is among the best in the NHL today.
His accuracy and velocity are what set him apart from his peers. He is the owner of a 21.4% shooting percentrage (6 goals on 28 shots on goal).
Olofsson made his Sabres debut on March 28 and scored each of his first two goals in 2018-19 via the power play. He scored 2 goals and 2 assist in 6 games played for the Sabres at the end of the 2018-19 season.
Only James Neal (Oilers) has scored more PPGs than Olofsson’s eight in 19 games played since he made his NHL debut on March 28, 2019 vs. Detroit. He has set an NHL record by becoming the first player in NHL history to score each of his first seven-plus career goals with a man advantage.
Olofsson potted 30 goals last season for the Rochester Amerks and was a standout at Sabres' main training camp in September.
Olofsson told me last week that he is working hard to improve his even strength goal scoring opportunities. He said he has to commit to puch defenseman out of his way to get to the front of teh net where he can collect loose change and tip pucks past opposing goal at even strength.
By potting 8 power play goals to begin his NHL career, Olofsson became the first player in NHL history to score each of his first eight career goals via the power play (since 1933-34), breaking the previous mark of six shared by Jeff Norton (Islanders), Craig Norwich (Jets) and Sylvain Turgeon (Whalers).
The Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, native will get to live out a lifelong dream to play NHL games in his home country. The Sabres will play the Tampa Lightinng in Sweden on November 8 and 9 in the NHL Global Series.
My guess is that Olofsson will be one of the Sabres' rookies picking up the tab on a lavish dinner with the boys in Sweden next weekend.
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Congratulations, Jack Eichel on playing in career game #300 tonight in Washington.
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The Sabres will get two veterans back into otheir lineup Saturday night when they host the NY Islanders.
Brandon Montour will make his long awaited season debut and Jimmy vVesey will return from his recent shoulder injury.
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