Sabres' Tage Thompson turns '8 years of adversity' into crowning playoff moments
Thompson built up for this.
Sabres' Tage Thompson turns '8 years of adversity' into crowning playoff moments originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . BUFFALO, N.
Y. – The number on everyone's mind in Western New York was 15 years. That's the last time the Sabres played a playoff hockey game.
The number on Tage Thompson's mind, though, was only about half of that -- 8 years. That's how many NHL seasons Thompson had played that ended with the final game of the regular season. It created a narrative, not just for Thompson but for this whole Sabres team, that a lack of playoff experience could cost them.
It's the kind of narrative that the players themselves won't ever lean into, but until it's proven wrong, it persists. For two-and-a-half periods Sunday night in their return to these bright lights, it seemed it may have been right. Then Thompson used what he learned in eight years in the desert -- not to mention world championships and the Olympics -- to show that he'd already been taught plenty of lessons.