Buffalo Sabres Fall To Golden Knights As The Power Play Continues To Struggle
The Buffalo Sabres continue to struggle on the power play as they lose to the Vegas Golden Knights 3-1 in a fast paced, yet disappointing game.
The Buffalo Sabres have had an up and down season already as they sport a 3-3-0 record. This isn’t the worst thing in the world, but it feels unfair considering how many quality chances they are getting on the power play. They were unable to score even once on their power play with a total of six power play opportunities. To add insult to injury, the Golden Knights scored a shorthanded goal tonight as well.
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There is something unique that the Golden Knights have, and I refer to this as the “Fleury Factor”. This term is used to describe the play specifically of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. There are some nights that the Fleury Factor is when Fleury himself cannot seem to find his bearings and stumbles every step of the game. Alternatively, there are other nights that something bizarre and incredible happens. There are nights that, no matter how much Fleury fumbles the puck, gets caught out of position, or is fishing for the puck in his crease, the puck just won’t go in the net. Tonight was one of those nights.
There needs to be something drastic that changes to the Buffalo Sabres power play. The first unit features Jack Eichel, Conor Sheary, Sam Reinhart, Kyle Okposo, and Rasmus Ristolainen and many times they are just cycling the puck around the outside of the opposing zone without actually taking a good shot. It seems like they are trying too hard to replicate the Washington Capitals power play strategy with Jack Eichel filling the Alex Ovechkin spot. It isn’t working, and it needs to change.
One thing that could add a different dynamic to the power play is by changing the first unit and including the likes of Rasmus Dahlin. Dahlin is a puck moving and shooting defenseman, and he would add a powerful dynamic to the top unit (not to mention a left handed shot on the point). Having him on the back end rather than Ristolainen, or even Okposo would add a different shooting option, and a great passer to move the puck in the right way.
Next. Johan Larsson Needs To Go. dark
The Buffalo Sabres next game will be on Thursday against the San Jose Sharks. Puck drop will be at 10:30pm EST. Let us know in the comments what you think could be done to improve the power play!