Sabres Lose to Capitals
By Tim Redinger
The Pegula era of hockey in Buffalo is not starting the way people wanted it to. As an owner in the NHL, Pegula has a standing record of 0-2 with the Buffalo Sabres. Thankfully it is with the team that the previous owners put together, there is nothing on this team that is Pegula’s other than the fact that he owns the team now. Two losses into it, and a trade deadline looming, it is going to be interesting to see what transpired this week as far as it comes to trades and free agents in Buffalo.
From what Darcy Regier has said, the Buffalo Sabres are going to look like buyers at the trade deadline as opposed to sellers. I honestly don’t think the Sabres are going to be able to find enough on sale this week in order to fix the broken wing that we call a team in time for a playoff run. There are plenty broken things with this team, starting with its defense, the lack of consistent offense, and the inability of the backup goaltender position – which could be a by product of the way goalies are used in Buffalo.
Which brings to mind, we have an Olympic caliber goaltender coach – why doesn’t this organization capitalize more on the asset of Jim Corsi?
The backup goaltender situation, while needing to be addressed, is not the most significant downfall this team has right now. Their inability to put the puck in the net has put them further out of the playoff picture, as they failed to pick up two points on a night when Carolina did – and they failed to win one of their “games in hand”
Not that it was much fault of their own, but the Sabres fell early in this one despite the score by giving Washington the extra attacker for eight minutes in the first period, with an extended five on three as part of it. THe Buffalo Sabres have not been able to say this much this year, but today they were glad to have Ryan Miller in the pipes, because he bailed them out in the first period.
It was nice to see Jason Pominville get on the score sheet – but when you only have one guy scoring, its tough to put a W in the win column and keep the points rolling. The Sabres are now 0-3 on their home stand, a spot on the schedule when you should be looking for easy points on the schedule to get you back into the picture.
The next game for the Buffalo Sabres is very important, because it is against the Atlanta Thrashers – a team that is currently tied with Buffalo in points, but below the Sabres because of number of games played. Wednesday night will be the first game all week for the Sabres and Thrashers – as both teams played this weekend and will have extended breaks before the contest Wednesday (with all the complaints about scheduling back to back games, you think the NHL schedulers could have taken a better look at the calender when they planned games). Wednesday nights tilt is a proverbial four point game – a win for the Sabres puts them two points better than the Thrashers and takes a possible two points from the Thrashers. The closer and closer we get to the end of the season playing .500 hockey, the more and more it is going to look like a sprint to the finish.