The Buffalo Sabres (12-13-1) demolished the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena last night thanks in large part to the five-goal, six-point performance of Tage Thompson. Final score: 9-4.
Don Granato’s squad roared out of the gates with six goals in the first period and they added three more in the second frame. Thompson now has 40 points on the season in 26 contests and he has officially, undoubtedly, arrived as an NHL star. No longer are pundits talking about his 38 goals and 68 points last season as fluky or unrepeatable. He’s rightfully being talked about as one of the best centermen currently in the game.
Thompson’s five tallies last night tied the franchise record for most goals scored in a game, despite the Sabres star only playing only 13:56 in the contest. That low total of minutes played caused a minor kerfuffle on the internet today as many said that Thompson should have seen more ice time later in the game in order to allow him to perhaps score six goals which would have been the most in any NHL game since Daryl Sittler scored six in 1976.
Ray Ratto of Defector.com was especially upset that Granato didn’t allow Thompson to chase history. He outlined that rather explicitly in his piece titled "Let Tage Thompson Go For Seven, You Cowards":
It… makes one wonder at least a little bit how he ended up playing so little. I mean, it is not in the sport’s culture to put individual achievements so front and center, but it is hard to imagine in the pre–ice time box score era that anyone with this kind of game has played less. Thompson took only four shifts after Buffalo’s ninth goal, and that covered the entire third period. He hasn’t played so few minutes in nearly two seasons, on a night when another seven minutes could have made him some serious tavern trivia.
It's an interesting debate. On one hand, it’s fun to watch history and seeing Thompson break that record would have been incredible. On the other, Granato deferred to good sportsmanship with the Sabres up 9-2 entering the third period and being a good sport should always be commended. Now, if this game had been played against the Colorado Avalanche or the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Sabres would have been in the right to keep applying pressure because there would have existed at least a small chance that the opposition could come back. The Sabres goaltending has been suspect after all (but more on that in a minute).
Could Thompson have scored 6 goals and added another helper or two if he played 18 minutes? Sure. It also would have been unnecessary showmanship. Thompson and the Sabres already had a terrific performance sealed up. That’s good enough.
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The Sabres goaltending situation continues to be a point of concern for the team due to Eric Comrie’s continued absence with a lower-body injury and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s subpar .859 save percentage so far this season. Veteran Craig Anderson has been the lone bright spot between the pipes with his .916 save percentage, but like a supernova, he burns hot, bright, and only for a short while. It’s clear that the 41-year-old is on a pitch count this season, and it appears that the magic number for his games played will end up somewhere in the 31-33 games played range. The Sabres clearly believe that to play him any more frequently than they have would increase the risk of injury. Makes sense. That said, the team would undoubtedly love to have another reliable goaltender who could start a majority of their games and post a save percentage above .900 in the process.
From the outside looking in, it’s incredibly unlikely – for a couple of reasons – that they trade for someone to assume that role. The most obvious reason is that Kevyn Adams has committed to the pair of Comrie and Anderson for the season and acquiring another goalie would mean that one of the two would either have to go the other way in a trade (incredibly unlikely), or the team would have to carry three goaltenders (not an optimal roster situation), or they would have to waive one of the two (not happening). The situation is just too messy for them to make a trade for a goalie.
But what if there were an organizational answer who could be given a chance to assume that role? Enter Devon Levi. Levi, of course, came to the Sabres as part of the Sam Reinhart trade almost a year and a half ago. Since then, he’s continued his collegiate career at Northeastern University where he’s enjoyed tremendous personal success, and he led his team on a nice run last year with a .952 save percentage and 10 shutouts en route to 21-10-1 record for the Huskies. This year has been a struggle for the team even though Levi has put up a .930 save percentage and 3 shutouts in 16 games. Overall, the team is a mediocre 7-7-3 with a Hockey East record of 6-4-2, meaning there exists the possibility that Northeastern could miss the playoffs.
For those who don’t know, the playoff format for NCAA men’s hockey includes 16 teams consisting of the conference winners from each of the six member conferences and the balance of the 10 teams are chosen via selection committee. Northeastern is currently fourth in the Hockey East conference, 5 points behind conference-leading UConn, so it’s unlikely that they will win the automatic bid invitation. As for the selection committee route, according to the weekly USA Today poll consisting of coaches and journalists associated with the NCAA, Northeastern is currently polling 21st in a ranking of the best D-1 teams. They are very much at risk of missing out on the post-season tournament, and in such a case, perhaps Levi would jump ship earlier than expected. Last year the selection show was held on March 20, so if the team were to miss out on an at-large bid, that would be the date we’d find out.
If the team continues to struggle though, maybe Levi would leave sooner than that. Full disclosure, it feels kind of icky to somewhat hope that his team doesn’t do well just so he could join the Sabres sooner than expected. We Sabres fans are veterans of the tank experience, though, and we understand that sometimes you have to muck up the moral waters to land the coveted piece. If Northeastern continues to struggle, and they would really have to crater for this to happen, perhaps Levi would consider coming aboard in early March – or sooner – if it became clear that the team had no post-season path. It’s worth keeping an eye on.
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