Nick Baptiste is more comfortable in his third game; Hudson Fasching is out against Minnesota.
From sabres.com, Matt Moulson and Kyle Okposo have had their fair share of history as linemates, which dates all the way back to the 2009-10 season when they were teammates with the New York Islanders. In five seasons together, they logged 1,102:04 of shared ice time at 5-on-5.
Now, they’re linemates once again in Buffalo on the Sabres’ top line with Ryan O’Reilly as their center.
So far, the results have been positive, even beyond the three goals Okposo has scored in his last two games. Corsi-for percentage is a statistic indicating the percentage shot attempts coming from a team when given players are on the ice, and the trio of O’Reilly, Moulson and Okposo have posteda 52.69 percent mark in 27:31 of shared 5-on-5 ice time. Meanwhile, they’ve spent 57.1 percent of that time in the offensive zone.
“We’ve, over the past couple of games, had a lot of opportunities to score,” Moulson said following practice in St. Paul on Monday. “I think the more you play with the same linemates, the more you get used to them and where each other are. Even if you played with each other before, I think just getting to know each other’s tendencies now is important.”
The trio has also gotten the chance to know each other on the power play, where they’ve anchored a top unit that has scored eight goals in eight games. Four of the goals have come from Moulson, two from O’Reilly and one from Okposo. Those three players have also combined for six assists on the man advantage.
What helps them is a shared knowledge of what they’re trying to accomplish as a line. Whether or not they’re able to execute on a given play, Moulson said, more often than not, they’ve done a good job of reading off one another with the same goal in mind.
When asked about what has stood out about Okposo’s game most so far, both Moulson and O’Reilly brought up his use of size and his strength on the puck.
“I think he’s doing a great job of taking it to the net and creating those opportunities he beats a guy down low and creates mini odd-man opportunities down low below the circle,” Moulson said.
“He’s good at carrying the puck in as well. He’s got a lot of assets but I think that’s his biggest asset is jus being strong on the puck, making plays, and sometimes it creates offense out of nothing where he can hang on to it and beat the guy and create something.”
To see what Moulson is talking about, look at these back-to-back plays from the second period of the Sabres’ game against the Minnesota Wild last Thursday. On the first play, Okposo carries the puck at the bottom of the circle, spins around and is able to use his body to ward off Minnesota defenseman Jonas Brodin to create room to reach the net-front.