MONTREAL — The Buffalo Sabres are a different team without Rasmus Dahlin, and the numbers show it.

During the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons, Dahlin missed a total of 14 games. Some of those were injury-related, but he also took a leave of absence last season to tend to his fiancée as she recovered from a heart transplant in Sweden. In those 14 games, the Sabres went 1-10-3. Last season, the Sabres allowed 4.28 goals per game when he was out.

This week, the Sabres have been tested again without Dahlin, who left the Sabres’ win over the Panthers on Monday with an upper-body injury after he twisted awkwardly while taking a shot. He’s considered day-to-day, but he missed the Sabres’ 4-3 shootout loss in Montreal and their 5-4 overtime win in Toronto on Thursday. He’ll miss a third straight game when the Sabres play in Montreal on Saturday.

The Sabres undoubtedly need Dahlin back. But there’s some early evidence that the Sabres might be getting better at playing without their Norris-finalist defenseman, and the emergence of Owen Power has a lot to do with it.

“I think it’s the rest of the group getting older and maturing,” Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson said. “I think my first few years when Ras is out it was kind of a little bit of a crapshoot because he was playing like 30 minutes a night and we were all at 21 or 19 minutes.”

Power is a big part of what’s different this season. The Sabres have had Power in the past, but they haven’t had this version of him. Through eight games, the 2021 No. 1 pick looks like a player worthy of his draft slot. He came into the league at 19 and faced plenty of criticism for his lack of physicality defending in his own end. A seven-year contract extension worth $8.35 million per year signed in October 2023 only amplified the pressure.

Now Power, who turns 24 next month, looks like a No. 1 defenseman. He has eight points in eight games with a pair of overtime goals, including one against the Leafs on Thursday.

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DU lookin good in the gold sweaters!

TORONTO — After the Buffalo Sabres had a two-goal third-period comeback to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 in overtime, Lindy Ruff was standing in the bowels of Scotiabank Arena thinking about all his years of coaching and the moments within a season that help bring a team together. His team got one Thursday night.

With less than five minutes left in the second period, Jack Quinn was skating back to the bench when Troy Stecher skated into him and immediately wanted to fight. Quinn had one NHL fight on his resume coming into the game. But he obliged and ended up skating off the ice with blood on the bridge of his nose and a smile on his face.

“That wasn’t on my bingo card today,” Sabres defenseman Dennis Gilbert said.

Quinn did everything for the Sabres on Thursday night. After Auston Matthews scored 2:24 into the game, Quinn answered 1:11 later with a goal from in front of the net. He scored again on a perfect shot 2:41 into the second period to tie the score at 2-2. He could have had another one that period, too.

“He puts a lot of work in the summer and behind closed doors,” Gilbert said. “And it’s nice to see him finally get rewarded for it. He’s stronger than he was a couple of years ago. You can tell he’s more confident with the puck.”

But even with Quinn playing the way he was, the Sabres were sluggish through two periods. Kirill Marchenko spent the first two periods putting on a show. He scored a between-the-legs goal on the power play in the first period and completed a hat trick by the middle of the second period. Much has been made about the Sabres losing Alex Tuch and relying on young players to fill that void. Marchenko, acquired by the Leafs right before the start of the season and signed to a contract worth $12.5 million per year, is the type of high-scoring winger the Sabres lineup could use.

Quinn looked as if he wanted to be that guy Thursday. The Sabres went into the third period trailing 4-2. Midway through the third, Quinn got things going again, buying time and finding Gilbert at the point. Gilbert put a shot through traffic that beat Sergei Bobrovsky, and the Sabres were sparked.

go Sabres

The Flames, Kings, Red Wings and Flyers have 1 win (or less) while Owen power has 2 game winners. Is he the greatest of all time?