By Jourdon LaBarber – Sabres.com (@JourdonLaBarber)
It took Hudson Fasching one shot to get on the board in his first professional game on Saturday. He’d had one shift so far on the night, just two practices leading up to the game and was exactly one week removed from his last collegiate contest.
Yet the 20-year-old Fasching was, astonishingly, the oldest Sabre to score in a 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets, if only by four months. His marker cut a two-goal deficit in half in the first period, while goals from fellow rookies Sam Reinhart (also 20) and Jack Eichel (19) tied it and then gave Buffalo the lead in the third.
For those in attendance at First Niagara Center, perhaps it was a glimpse of the future. For Fasching, it was simply a game and a moment he’ll never forget.
“It’s kind of a dream come true,” Fasching said. “I was talking to my buddies and my parents and I said ‘You know, if I score in my first game I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m going to be blacked out on adrenaline and just so excited.’ That was almost the case.”
Up until Fasching’s goal, which came 8:37 into the opening period, the Sabres felt they had controlled the pace of play and yet trailed 2-0 thanks to goals on the rush by Winnipeg’s Nikolaj Ehlers and Andrew Copp.
It would have been hard to imagine Fasching’s goal not shifting the momentum back in Buffalo’s favor given both the tremendous response of the crowd and the exuberance of the rookie’s celebration.
“I thought Hudson’s first shifts, first couple shifts were really high-energy, showed his speed,” Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. “They were nothing like his sprint back to the bench after the goal … Didn’t necessarily feel like a ‘MayDay’ type of sprint, but he came flying to the bench.
“It was infectious with the energy; he was excited coming to the bench about getting that goal.”
The goal was exactly what those who read the scouting report on the 6-foot-2-inch power forward might have expected. Fasching caught the puck from Mark Pysyk along the left-wing wall, turned around defenseman Jacob Trouba and drove straight to the net.
“I was just kind of whacking at it because I knew I had to keep his stick away from the puck so I was just whacking at it hoping he didn’t hit it,” Fasching said. “All of a sudden I just kind of turned and he ended up behind me somehow and I was just standing with the puck and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness. I have a play to the net here.’
Chad Johnson, who won his sixth game in seven starts, was perfect in net for Buffalo from that point on in a win that took him only 17 saves to produce. Then, two rookies whom Sabres fans are now used to seeing score goals took the reins once the third period began.
“We talked about our leadership and leaders before the game,” Bylsma said. “Since the All-Star break, I think Sam’s leading us in points and Jack’s leading us in goals and I don’t really look at them as rookies or young players anymore. They’re players who are stepping up for our team and leading our team in a lot of ways and they were tonight.”
Reinhart, who scored his first career hat trick the last time out against the Jets, tied the game for the Sabres 1:23 into the final period. Zemgus Girgensons took a shot off of his own faceoff win that deflected off of the post to Reinhart in the slot. Reinhart buried it for his 21st goal.
Eichel scored the game-winner at the 4:07 mark of the third thanks to another outstanding play by Reinhart, who stripped the puck from Alexander Burmistrov along the wall at center ice and immediately hit Eichel with a no-look, backhand pass.
Eichel skated into the offensive zone and took his shot from the high slot, beating Winnipeg goalie Michael Hutchinson across his body.
“Any time Jack gets himself open you just kind of watch from there. You can’t really say much about that shot,” Reinhart said. “When I skating back I saw him and I mean he’s so smart he kind of finds the soft area.
“I was screaming for it,” Eichel said. “I had time to generate speed so he hit me in stride and it’s a great play by him.”
The goal gave Eichel his 50th point of the season (23+27), making him the ninth Sabres rookie to reach that mark and the youngest to do it since Hall-of-Fame defenseman Phil Housley in 1982-83. It was also his fifth game-winning goal, tying Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin and Ray Sheppard for second-most by a Sabres rookie and one off of Donald Audette’s franchise record.
For Eichel and Reinhart, the recent success is simply about giving back to the team that made their rookies seasons so easy to begin with.
“The older guys, if you can call them that really, have done so well to kind of make us feel a part of it and make this team as close as it is,” Reinhart said. “For us to kind of contribute like that makes it special and makes it a lot of fun.”
Fasching, meanwhile, finally gets a breather with an off day scheduled for Sunday. Considering the week he’s had, he could use it.
“It’s been a whirlwind; I think that’s the perfect word for me,” he said. “It feels like just yesterday I was at the University of Minnesota, we were battling to stay alive, and now I’m here. It’s definitely a quick turnaround so I’ll definitely need to take a second and take a step back.
NELSON’S DEBUT
Defenseman Casey Nelson, who also made his NHL debut, earned his first career point with an assist on Fasching’s goal. Nelson won a puck battle in the corner of his own zone to unleash Pysyk on the goal-scoring rush.
Nelson totaled 16:33 of ice time, including 53 seconds on the power play in the second period.
“We got him the opportunity on the power play there – the second power play – we just forgot to tell him to shoot the puck,” Bylsma said. “He was skating well, distributing well, moving to the middle of the ice and I was like ‘I’d like to see you look to the net and take a shot.'”
FASCHING SEES TIME ON TOP
After beginning the game on the fourth line with Matt Moulson and David Legwand, Fasching spent the third period on the right wing alongside Evander Kane and Ryan O’Reilly. He said he was surprised when Bylsma told him to take the ice to begin the period.
“I was sitting on the bench and coach kept tapping me. I was like ‘What? Am in the way or something?’ He was like ‘No, you’re going,'” Fasching said. “They’re fantastic players and it was incredible to play with them.”
RED WINGS UP NEXT
The Sabres will hit the road for a set of back-to-back games that begins against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday and concludes the following night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Monday’s game will mark the fifth and final meeting between the Sabres and Red Wings, with Buffalo owning a 1-2-1 record.
The game can be seen at 7:30 p.m. on NBCSN and Sportsnet and can also be heard live on WGR 550.
(Reprinted with permission of the Buffalo Sabres)
