Buffalo Sabres: A way too early look inside the numbers

With 3 games in the books, the Buffalo Sabres are in a great spot with 2 wins and 1 loss. As the Sabres will not be in action until Thursday night against the Colorado Avalanche, let’s take a look at the numbers through the first few games of 2018-19.

As discussed before the game against the Vegas Golden Knights, the Sabres are over .500 for the first time since January of 2013 and the club has not won 2 games this quickly since the 2011-12 season.

After getting shutout 4-0 by the Boston Bruins in the first game of the season, the Sabres rebounded with two 2 goal victories over the Rangers and Golden Knights. Special teams have been the brightest spot so far. After allowing a power play goal in the first period goal against the Bruins, the Sabres have killed 5 straight power plays.

In regards to the power play, the Sabres have scored on 3 of their 8 power play opportunities. Only 5 other teams in the league have scored more than 3 goals thus far.

The most exciting thing about the start of the 2018-19 season is that the Buffalo Sabres have not dug themselves into a hole like past seasons. Last season, the Sabres lost 7 of their first 8 games and were ostensibly out of the playoffs by the start of October. In fact every October (and January of the lockout shortened 2012-13 season) since 2011-12 has ended with the Sabres being in the basement of the division.

It’s early, but it is great to be excited about Buffalo Sabres hockey. In addition to the great start, the Buffalo Sabres are the 9th youngest team in the league, have strong talent in the AHL, and have 3 first round draft picks in the upcoming NHL draft. Now let’s review the forwards, defensemen, and goaltending  performance from the first week of the season.

*All statistics are from hockeyviz.com, corsicahockey.com, and hockey-reference.com.