Buffalo came this close to throwing it all away with Dallas pulling their goalie with six minutes left to play
Score: Buffalo Sabres 4-2 Dallas Stars
Shots: BUF 25-30 DAL
Buffalo Sabres Goals: Krebs (1), McLeod (4), Thompson (5), Tuch (3, EN)
Dallas Stars Goals: Harley (1), Seguin (3)
Plus 1: Return of the UPL
After an uncharacteristic showing in the track meet last week against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen seems to have taken the fans’ criticism of him playing ‘small’ to heart. Since then he has been on a tear, posting a .946 in the Windy City win over the Chicago Blackhawks and then tonight’s .933 as well.
The Sabres did start this one very slow against one of the very best teams in the league, with the ice heavily tilted in Dallas’ favor as Buffalo had to absorb wave upon wave of attacks. UPL stood strong though long enough for the Sabres to eventually show up in the last few minutes of the period, finishing the stronger side.
To be fair, UPL really deserved a shutout in this one, the deflected puck off Jason Zucker’s stick in the high-slot was a cruel way to get the ‘Ryan Miller shutout’ (at the time), but the Sabres will be happy to see him back at his best again.
Plus 2: Power & Peyton punching bags no more
Two players who had come for quite a bit of criticism last season are working very hard to change that are Owen Power and Peyton Krebs. The former #1 pick defenseman nabbed three assists tonight and is turning into the offensive juggernaut that Rasmus Dahlin has been. Until the Sabres captain sorts himself out, Power is making sure there’s no shortage of points coming from the blue line. Look at this outlet pass!
Krebs didn’t even dress for the first game of the season, and everyone thought he’d be the Sabres thirteenth skater most nights. However the injury to Nicolas Aube-Kubel opened the door for him and I don’t see how Lindy Ruff sits Krebsy now. He leads the Sabres in face-off win percentage at 61.1% (more than 25 taken), and though is only playing a shade over 11 minutes a night while logging a respectable 12.63 hits per 60, only behind bowling ball Beck Malenstyn.
PS: Dylan Cozens is another player that has been on this list, and they do not come more snake-bitten than our workhorse. He’s struggled to hit the goal this season, and it got worse tonight with him hitting the pipe and missing two empty nets with the Stars pulling Oettinger with six minutes left in the game to try force a result. As he watched Tyler Seguin pull the visitors to within one with over two minutes left in the game, his heart must have sunk to his skates. Dallas continued to pile the pressure on and there would have been no one more relieved to see Tage Thompson connect with Alex Tuch to end the game at 4-2 than our center from White Horse. All his metrics are still trending in the right direction, he just needs some fortune to break the seal, as the saying goes.
Minus 1: Special Teams need a boost
After last season’s power play debacle, it didn’t feel like the Sabres could be any worse this season, but guess what, they’ve managed to go even lower. They are currently 0-for-22, bottom of the league and to be honest I see nothing that gives me even an inkling that things are going to get better. If this is indeed Seth Appert’s audition for the head coaching role, it’s not off to a good start.
The penalty kill was decent last season (13th, 79.8%, 7 SHGs) – notwithstanding having Tage Thompson out there blocking shots – but that unit has gotten off to a rocky start too, at 27th with a 72.7% kill percentage before tonight. However against the Stars, they dialed up the pressure, and in three shorthanded spells allowed Dallas to only take one shot.
Final Thoughts
So are these the Sabres we’re going to see this season – crapping the bed against poor teams, easy on the eye against the better teams?
The poor starts to games have to end no matter what – there’s no doubting that if UPL had given up a goal in the first few minutes of the game when Dallas were camped out in front of him, the final result would have been very different.
My Comment of the Game goes to bdonaghu who was rooting for Ryan McLeod. Oilers fans were only too glad to see the back of the forward, but he’s been excellent for the Sabres so far, centering the third line and picking up five points so far, including four goals. He leads Buffalo in starting shifts in the defensive zone, and all this from being matched up against the opponents’ top line every night.
McLeod might be one of Adams best trade acquisitions to date. I never understood the hate for it.
Buffalo are back in action on matinee Saturday against division rivals Detroit Red Wings who are going through their own debilitating start to the season. It’ll be the season’s first appearance of the black-and-red goathead jerseys, and hopefully they knock the Motor City side for six.