Three assists for Dahlin as Sabers win third straight | NHL.com/en

In the meeting against the Red Wings, much of the offensive play went through Dahlin, especially in the two starts. Something he and the Sabers wanted to accomplish was to get Dahlin more involved in the offense.

– I said after the last game that I thought his game was closer to what it needs to be. about Dahlin to NHL .com/sv.

Dahlin set a new personal best last season after tallying 20 goals in 81 games (59 total points). His best scoring season so far in his NHL career came in 2022-23 when he had a whopping 73 points (15+58) in 78 games.

The Sabers are tied for third place in the Metropolitan Division with nine points in nine games (4-4-1) after defeating the Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars and Red Wings in a week. After opening the season with two straight losses against the New Jersey Devils in Prague in the NHL World Series, the team has found form.

– We are finding ways to close matches now and that is nice, said Dahlin. We play for 60 minutes and when we have the lead in the third period, we do a good job of closing the games. He’s helped us and then it was really nice to get a power play goal tonight.

– It has been a learning process. You have to take care of the puck, and that’s exactly what we’re doing right now. We keep him out of the middle and then we cover shots and do what we can. It feels good.

Against the Red Wings, Tage Thompson had two goals and one assist. The Sabers got a long awaited power play goal in the game when Jason Zucker scored the team’s first goal of the season.

Zucker, who arrived this summer on a one-year deal as a free agent, became the first Buffalo player to hit directly on the power play this season. The Sabers power play has been the team’s Achilles heel during the opener. With an efficiency of just 3.9 percent after Saturday’s game, they are ranked last in the league.

– We have been working hard in every training session, even off the ice we have talked to each other to try to find an identity for our power play, said Dahlin. It’s something we keep doing, but it’s been looking better every night and it’s finally going to look great.

The goal was also Zucker’s first in a Buffalo jersey, and was praised by Thompson afterward.