Buffalo Sabres Game Day #4: Three Bold Predictions For Sabres-Sharks

The Buffalo Sabres need a win; the San Jose Sharks would like one, too! Here are three predictions for tonight’s contest.

The Buffalo Sabres are out west for a few days, trying to secure their first win of the season.  As it just so happens, their best chance to earn a W will come tonight, when they face the winless San Jose Sharks.

The Sabres look like a team with very little passion right now, which is not a good sign, considering how many changes for the better this team made during the offseason. The good news is that the San Jose Sharks have looked equally uninterested in playing hockey so far this season. These two teams might not combine to give us a GOOD hockey game, but the bottom line is that someone has to win tonight, no matter how ugly it looks.

Here are my three bold predictions for game 4.

Prediction #1: The Sabres will win this game in regulation.

You have to believe this, don’t you? The team has a new coach, a new GM, a supposed superstar with a new $80 million contract, a new-and-improved defense – I mean, at some point this team is actually going to show up and play like winning is important, right?

Meanwhile, the Sharks look like Father Time might have finally caught up with them. Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, and Brent Burns have combined to score three points (zero goals), and are a combined -8 in just two games of play.

Prediction #2: Buffalo will give up another shorthanded goal tonight.

With a new coach comes a new system. The Sabres clearly are not comfortable with what Phil Housley wants them to do on either end of the ice, and that is not going to change any time soon. There will be a few more significant hiccups in the Sabres’ game tonight, and given the fact that Housley tinkered with the powerplay units at Wednesday’s practice, it is conceivable that the team’s most embarrassing weakness – surrounding shorthanded goals, to the tune of four already this season – will rear its ugly head again tonight in San Jose.

Prediction #3: Eichel will have a multi-point game tonight.

The Sharks have already allowed nine goals in their first two games of the season, and with the team announcing that defenseman Paul Martin has been placed on injured reserve, things might get worse at the blueline before they get better.

Enter Jack Eichel, who cannot possibly be happy with how he has played so far. Granted, Eichel is still young and, frankly, immature, so it possible that he resorts to sulking tonight instead of putting the team on his back. Wishing to remain optimistic, I choose to believe he will do the latter tonight and enjoy his second multi-point night of the season.

Next: Sabres Head West In Desperate Need Of A Win

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