About once a game, Jack Eichel does something fairly remarkable.
He scored once, but most times it’s just a play no other Buffalo Sabre can make. The din of the First Niagara Center crowd intensifies with even the hint of a Jack Eichel scoring chance. Early in Buffalo’s 2-1 overtime win against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Eichel found himself on a 2 on 1 with Evander Kane carrying the puck. Kane probably should have shot, but likely saw what the rest of the 17,762 in attendance noticed: Jack Eichel all alone in a shooting position.
The pass didn’t get through, and the Sabres’ scoring struggles continued deep into the night. Then, Kane ripped his first of the season into the top corner from a tough angle late in the third to force overtime. Even in the shootout Buffalo struggled to hit the net, connecting on 2 of 5 attempts, but Chad Johnson was only fooled once in net and the Sabres won their second of the season on home ice.
Eichel, days away from his 19th birthday, remains the focal point of this young Sabres season for a reason. The remarkable moments just keep piling up. Fans would like all of these moments to end in goals. I’m sure the league would, too, because it would get them on SportsCenter a bit more. But that’s just not how hockey works.
You have to count the seconds with Eichel. With 1:20 left in the second period, the 18-year-old takes a faceoff at center ice. He chips the puck past Mark Arcobello in the circle and moves past him with his first stride. The third push off his skates takes him left, gaining speed and creating a lane past defenseman Morgan Rielly at the blue line. Rielly tries to catch up but Eichel cuts to the middle, sliding the puck into the space between Rielly’s lunging stick and skates. Past both defenders, he takes the shot inches ahead of their sticks, missing high and to the right. The clock reads 1:15.
In the time it took you to read that paragraph, Jack Eichel has made that move at least three times over. Eichel is a Vine superstar on ice, with the ability to dazzle in just a few seconds; a burst of speed here, a flick of the wrist there. The goals have been sparse, but these moments of physical and spatial brilliance have become routine.
So here’s a strained metaphor comparing Jack Eichel and beaver dams: Beavers are called keystone species because their existence and function are necessary to create habitats for other creatures. Their dams help form wetlands, which provide unique ecosystems and freshwater filtering that can often prevent flooding. They provide the environment that creates an endless number of life functions for other creatures.
It probably sounds like I’m saying 18-year-old hockey phenom Jack Eichel is a well-assembled pile of twigs, branches and mud. Or maybe the beaver itself. I told you it was strained, but yeah, that’s Jack Eichel. Standout players like him—keystone players—are essential to success in the NHL. Those nightly instances of brilliance from Eichel provide such enormous opportunity for the Buffalo Sabres.
Tyler Ennis scored a remarkable goal last year. It’s the only goal I can really remember, a singular pit stop on an uninterrupted stream to the bottom of the water table. Even with their early-season struggles this October, it’s foolish to think this Sabres team is just more of the last two years of calculated failure. You’re just watching the water closely enough.
Matt Moulson had the shootout winner on Wednesday night, subtly shifting his balance and gliding to the left to drag Leafs goaltender Jonathan Bernier out of position before netting the shootout winner. Moulson is a player who notched 51 points playing for three different teams in 2013-14. When he hit free agency, he returned to Buffalo to score 13 goals for the halpless Sabres last season.
Why? It’s impossible to know for sure. Maybe he just really likes chicken wings and surface parking lots, but you can’t help but speculate that Moulson came back because he knew players like Jack Eichel and Evander Kane were on their way. Guys like that change the ecosystem. They allow other players to find different roles and create something unique.
Jack Eichel can’t save the Buffalo Sabres on his own. He’s not going to score all the goals. But he won’t have to. The goals will come. And so, too, will the ecosystem. Life, as a wise fictional man once said, finds a way.