Their game on against the Maple Leafs was one of resilience. The Sabres had an early goal taken off the board due to an offside challenge, then fell behind twice in the first period. They lost starting goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to a lower-body injury on the second goal.
They responded to each dose of adversity – with goals from Josh Doan, Thompson, Alex Tuch and Jack Quinn in addition to the three from Dahlin, plus a 16-save performance in relief by Colten Ellis – and eventually their disciplined, up-tempo play led to them pulling away with a three-goal third period.
It was a resilience befitting a team captained by Dahlin, who’s played the season amid unimaginable circumstances. Dahlin announced prior to training camp that his fiancé, Carolina Matovac, was recovering from an emergency heart transplant. Just yesterday, Matovac announced in an Instagram post that the couple had experienced a pregnancy loss during the summer which contributed to the discovery of her heart failure.
“Obviously what he’s going through personally, I can’t even imagine,” Thompson said. “The fact that he’s here playing hockey and competing for us means the world to us and I think that just speaks to his character. How much he loves the team, how much he wants to win. And he’s not just playing, he’s leading by example. I can’t say enough good things about him and obviously the mental strength you have to have to be able to do what he’s doing is pretty impressive.”
Mattias Samuelsson summed up his friend and defense partner in a few short words.
“Just an impressive human being,” Samuelsson said.
Dahlin’s performance against the Maple Leafs – in a game with important standings implications, no less – was the full package of his all-world talents: quick puck movement out of the zone, deft skating, and offensive players of every variety.
Dahlin rushed down the left side of the ice and delivered a hard pass toward the blue paint for his first goal, which deflected in off a Maple Leafs defender. He took his forward prowess one step further for his second goal, which saw him cut to the Toronto net to deflect a shot from the point by Samuelsson.
In the third period, Dahlin reached into his bag of tricks for a talent he’s shown since his rookie season: a high, lofted pass from his own zone that lands on his teammate’s stick at the opposing blue line. Quinn was the benefactor for a goal on the rush.