After seeing Buffalo Sabres defenceman Rasmus Dahlin take a cross-check in the neck area from Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews, Dylan Cozens knew it was important to show his teammate that he had his back.
Late in the third period, Cozens delivered a big hit on Matthews which drew a response from Michael Bunting and Ilya Mikheyev. Cozens received a 10-minute misconduct on the play, and made it a point to say he would have done it again on Tuesday.
“At that point in the game in a normal game, if nothing had happened before that, I probably wouldn't have taken that hit,” Cozens said about the play in question. “But just seeing what he did to (Rasmus) – that was a really dirty cross-check and a dangerous cross-check by him – I decided in the moment there to finish my check on him.
“Obviously, a couple of guys didn't like that, but I’d do it again if I had to. Dahlin’s a star player, a young defenseman, one of the best defencemen in the league and he's going to be a great player for us, so that’s a guy that anyone on this team would stick up for. I’ve got to take exception to that one.”
After the game, Dahlin brushed off the incident as something that happens in the heat of the moment.
“It’s hockey,” he told reporters after the game. “Things happen out there. It’s intense. I’m fine.”
Bunting was also given a 10-minute misconduct for going after Cozens after the hit on Matthews. The Sabres forward understood why the Leafs forward responded the way he did but believes there was a better way for the Leafs forward to approach the situation.
“He's just sticking up for his star centreman, too,” Cozens said about Bunting. “Good on him for that, but I think there's different ways he could have gone about it if he really wanted to fight.”
The NHL suspended Matthews for two games and will forfeit $116,402.50 in salary during the suspension.
When asked about the response from his teammate, Dahlin appreciated it and made it a point to thank Cozens after the game for having his back and believes it shows how close the locker room has become.
Many players on the Sabres believe that the game was a unifying moment for the group. Cozens made sure to stay by the rink instead of going back to the locker room so that he could celebrate on the ice.
“We showed a lot lately about how close we are as a team and we are brothers," Cozens said. "Even in practice we battle like brothers and then on the ice in games, we battle together. So we’re kind of just growing up together.”
While the playoffs might be out of reach for Buffalo this season, the team is hoping that they can continue to build off the momentum they are on with impressive wins over the Leafs and Vegas Golden Knights.
“We take the experience from it and just use it, mature from it, realize that we’re starting to take some steps here,” Kyle Okposo said. “I think it was definitely a positive step in the right direction.”
