Sabres' Tage Thompson turns '8 years of adversity' into crowning playoff moments

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.

"I think eight years of adversity is enough experience to get you ready for stuff like this," Thompson said postgame. "Anytime you go eight years without making the playoffs and it's finally here, the last thing you want is regret. There's just a heightened feeling of hunger. You just don't want to let this opportunity slip."

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He'd never want to take too much credit, either. That's another thing a superstar learns in a long athletic career.

Thompson knew he wouldn't have scored the Sabres' first goal Sunday night without the forecheck of his teammates.

He knew the same was true on his game-tying goal, as well.

"If you look at both those plays, it's from my linemates forechecking, disrupting, causing a turnover, and I'm in the right spot where the puck finds me off their pressure," Thompson said. "Those two goals are exactly what we wanted to do all night."

But in the end, Buffalo was also fortunate the puck fell to the stick of Thompson. Because through those years of struggle, he'd also developed into one of the most gifted finishers in the NHL.

So when he needed a backhand wraparound, he had it.

And when he needed a low forehand shot, he had that, too.

"(Thompson) made some really nice plays there," said defenseman Mattias Samuellson, who later scored the go-ahead goal in a 4-3 win. "We just kept the belief there and tried to keep the momentum with the fans."

This was the fully realized version of Thompson. Early in 2025, he hadn't quite been ready for the 4 Nations Faceoff version of Team USA. But by early 2026, he was ready for the Olympics, where he was a powerplay mainstay and won a gold medal.

This was a Thompson who had built toward this moment with that assured confidence of a great athlete, knowing that when the stage finally arrived, he'd be ready.

"Every game means so much," Thompson said. "Every shift means so much. There's a little more desperation. You never know what's going to be the turning point in a game."

The sequence of events that led to Sunday night may have been pretty absurd.

But the fact that it was Tage Thompson playing hero for the Sabres? Well, that simply made perfect sense.

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