When we fans talk about what it will take for the Buffalo Sabres to establish themselves as a bona fide Stanley Cup contender, we ultimately wind up talking about skill. We talk about speed. We talk about goaltending. And we talk about having a warrior mentality, especially when it comes to Ryan O’Reilly.
After watching Dmitry Kulikov sacrifice his body time and time again Tuesday night in Buffalo’s 5-4 OT victory against the Nashville Predators, maybe it’s time we start talking about fearlessness, as well.
Having already missed 26 games due to back injury this season, Kulikov took the ice in Nashville, logged 24:11 minutes of ice time (third-most on the team), and blocked an impressive 7 shots.