Thompson is a plus-4 in his past 15 games. The Sabres are plus-19 since. Dec. 9 as a team, outscoring opponents 54-35. They are 11-0-0 when leading after two periods in that stretch and 18-1-0 this season.
“If I’m not scoring, what else am I doing to impact the game?” Thompson said. “I want to be a guy that the coach can rely on in all situations. Obviously, when you’re competing for a spot on the Olympic team there’s the best players in the world, so you’ve got to find something to do that separates yourself from the other guys.
“For me, I want to make sure I’m as versatile as possible — someone they can use where ever they want, be responsible defensively and hard to play against. If they need that from me, that’s something I have to show throughout the season, and obviously it’ll help our team win games too.”
Thompson’s role for the U.S. in the Olympics is still undefined, but gaining the trust of Guerin and Sullivan over the past several months gave him the chance to at least have a role beyond last-minute emergency replacement that he was at 4 Nations.
But it was there that he saw firsthand what it would take to play at the highest level.
He’ll get the chance to do it himself in the Olympics.
“He just plays the right way,” Sabres defenseman Owen Power said. “He plays hard. He’s good on the forecheck. He makes the players around him a lot better. Obviously, the scoring is what everyone else sees, but he’s got a lot of other intangibles that you don’t see unless you watch him over and over again every night.”
