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BUFFALO, N.Y. — The exchange was perfect, and it may have captured everything that Jordan Greenway is for the Buffalo Sabres.
The Athletic’s Matthew Fairburn asked Greenway a question Wednesday night, after a Game 1 win over the Montreal Canadiens, about a story shared by head coach Lindy Ruff of Greenway gaining confidence by scoring a practice hat trick.
“I scored three goals in practice?” Greenway wondered about the story from his coach, then decided to roll with it. “Did I see this coming? Not because I scored three goals in practice. Some days I have like eight. I was out for some time, obviously, and I figured it’d take a little bit of time to get to where I want to be. I’m definitely working toward that. So did I see this coming? Yeah, I thought that I was gonna be able to improve my game as we continue to play more games. Yeah, maybe it was something to do with the three goals in practice.”
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Greenway earned laughs from pretty much everyone in the press conference with the way he handled that. He’d already achieved everything else on this night.
His very first shift with the fourth line featured one of those crunching hits that only the 6-foot-6 Greenway can dish out. Consider the tone set.
Then with the Sabres up 2-1 early in the second period, Greenway carried the puck into the zone with his head up. He appeared to be considering his options to distribute, but then figured, why the heck not?
So Greenway fired, top shelf where momma hides the cookies, 3-1 Sabres en route to a 4-2 victory.
“He’s been awesome for us all year when he’s been healthy,” Sabres winger Josh Doan said after the game. “It’s been a hard year with (injuries)... Tonight was awesome for him to get on the scoresheet.”
Greenway isn’t a goal scorer, and he’s had a weird year. Injuries forced him to miss about half of the regular season. That can make finding a rhythm tough.
It’s hard enough to find a rhythm on the fourth line, which often will play only about one-sixth of the game.
Greenway is finding it, though. He finds it through those hits, through the post-play shoving matches, through watching his linemates Tyson Kozak and Beck Malenstyn block shots and work in front of the net.
And so at just the right time, Greenway appears to be hitting his stride.
“By far his best game,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said after the game. “Great on the walls, really strong with the puck, physicality good. The goal, great shot through the defensemen. The puck battles, I thought he was excellent.”
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Greenway has big game experience. He played with the U.S. Olympic team in 2018, when NHL players weren’t involved. He’s played in the postseason with the Minnesota Wild.
But this Buffalo team is different, in the way it’s capturing the hearts of a city and even of the entire hockey world.
Greenway doesn’t have an NHL career that usually makes highlight reels, at least beyond some big hits. But his confidence is rising, he’s feeling healthy, and he’s part of a Sabres group that doesn’t care who gets the job done as long as it gets done.
And right now, Greenway is proving that he can get the job done.
“It’s always great to score, second round of the playoffs,” Greenway said in the postgame press conference. “... It’s been a journey injury-wise, but there’s a lot of guys who have gone through injuries. At this point, it’s behind me. I’m just focused on going out there and doing what I can do to help the team.”
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