Coming into the month of November, the Buffalo Sabres had a perfect opportunity to set themselves up in a great position for the winter months.
Instead, Buffalo’s momentum skidded to a halt.
What happened next was rough – Buffalo won three of 14 games.
The month in review is not a pretty one but there most certainly were a few nice things that happened.
Results
November 1 – Washington 6, Buffalo 1
November 2 – NY Islanders 1, Buffalo 0
November 8 – Tampa Bay 3, Buffalo 2
November 9 – Tampa Bay 5, Buffalo 3
November 14 – Carolina 5, Buffalo 4 (OT)
November 16 – Buffalo 4, Ottawa 2
November 17 – Chicago 4, Buffalo 1
November 19 – Minnesota 4, Buffalo 1
November 21 – Boston 3, Buffalo 2
November 24 – Buffalo 5, Florida 2
November 25 – Tampa Bay 5, Buffalo 2
November 27 – Calgary 3, Buffalo 2 (OT)
November 29 – Buffalo 6, Toronto 4
November 30 – Toronto 2, Buffalo 1 (OT)
Three Big Things
1: A Disappointing Month
October provided one very important thing that the Buffalo-area needed: hope.
With Buffalo’s hot start, many fans found themselves ready-to-go when the month of November rolled around.
Unfortunately, Buffalo ended up winning three of 14 games. Of 28 available points, Buffalo ended the month with nine points.
Yikes.
Point projections over the past fortnight. pic.twitter.com/Ek2UaHVXLB
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) December 1, 2019
2: Bad Injury Luck
The month of November tested Buffalo’s organizational depth. as the team found themselves caught in an injury trap.
Vladimir Sobotka injured his knee against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Sweden. Sobotka underwent knee injury and is out indefinitely.
A few games later, Kyle Okposo suffered a concussion – his fourth in less than three years. Okposo is out indefinitely.
Okposo’s replacement Tage Thompson was hurt in his first game after being recalled. Thompson should be out until at least mid-December, with what appeared to be a dislocated shoulder.
Evan Rodrigues has missed the last three games after getting injured on November 25.
Rasmus Dahlin suffered a concussion against the Calgary Flames and is out indefinitely.
Like we said in the above text, yikes.
3: Jack Does It Again
It is hard to not highlight the wonderful month that Jack Eichel had for the Buffalo Sabres.
In 14 games, Eichel amassed nine goals and nine assists for 18 points overall,
All of Eichel’s goals in November came while playing 5-on-5, which in itself is a good thing. This does help highlight a big reason why the Buffalo Sabres power play has struggled as of late.
Speaking of highlights, fans were treated to Eichel’s first four-goal game. Eichel scored all of Buffalo’s four goals against the Ottawa Senators back on November 16.