Sabres veteran winger scored first goal vs. Ottawa after slow start
Alex Tuch is being depended on to be an offensive driver for the Buffalo Sabres after a career-high 79 points (36 goals, 43 assists) last season on the club’s top line with Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner, but less than two weeks into the regular season, the unit was split up by head coach Don Granato and Tuch had just one assist in six games.
"I always came with a 'find it, fix it, forget about it' mentality ever since I was young," Tuch said. "I tried to find out what I'm doing wrong, I try to fix the mistakes, doing better the next time by trying a little bit harder, and then I forget about it because if you just constantly think about what you have done in the past and how bad you were, how good you were, you're never going to be able to be better than you were yesterday and you're never going to be able to move on."
The big winger resorted to things out of his comfort zone, like dropping the gloves with New York’s Adam Pelech after Skinner was hit by the Islanders defenseman, and with Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk, which may have helped him bust loose offensively with a goal and an assist in the Sabres 6-4 victory over the Sens on Thursday.
"I love the energy. I love the emotion. There's lots of parts to love about it. Specifically sticking up for teammates, sending a message you're not going to be pushed around." Sabres head coach Don Granato said, "There's so many good things, but at the end of it, he's a goal scorer. Quite frankly, if that helps him energize right now and get back to his game. I absolutely love it, but you also think about risks of when you have a very talented player dropping the gloves and those are not fun to think about."
Tuch remained with Skinner and center Casey Mittelstadt on the Sabres second line, with Thompson centering Jordan Greenway and Dylan Cozens, but remains on the top power play with his old linemates. Granato has not ruled out reuniting the unit that combined for 118 goals last season, but they will keep things the same with Buffalo winners of two of their last three games.
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