After getting some secondary scoring in an overtime win Thursday night in Montreal, let’s review where the Buffalo Sabres can get more offensive production.
The good news for the Buffalo Sabres is they are (finally) scoring goals. Last season the Sabres scored only 199 goals and were the only team in the NHL to score fewer than 200 goals. 16 games into the season, the Sabres are in the top half of the league in goals scored and are on pace to score 26% more goals than last season.
The lone negative aspect of the increased scoring, is that the vast majority of scoring is coming from the Sabres’ top forward line. Jeff Skinner, Jack Eichel, and Jason Pominville are driving virtually all of the offensive production at this point.
Last night’s overtime win over Montreal was a nice change of pace. 4 of the 6 goals were scored when the the Skinner-Eichel-Pominville line was not on the ice, including Rasmus Ristolainen‘s overtime goal.
A 3-on-1 one way.
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) November 9, 2018
Risto ends it the other way.
The @EASPORTSNHL 3-on-3 OT winner 👐 pic.twitter.com/DCgLiORwdO
That being said, Jeff Skinner scored 2 more goals and Jack Eichel recorded 2 more assists. Jeff Skinner now has 11 goals and is 5th in the league in goals (1 goal off the league lead) and Jack Eichel is 4th in the league in assists.
The top forward line has scored 16 even strength goals while the rest of the Sabres forwards have scored only 11 even strength goals. The top forward group also makes up 40% of the power play goals scored by forwards. The Sabres have yet to score a shorthanded goal this season.
The same discrepancy can been in point production. Eichel and company have more primary and secondary points than the other forwards on the team.
Jack, are you serious with this 😱 pic.twitter.com/DLz5MIpgm4
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) November 9, 2018
So what needs to be done? We know that playoff teams get production from their bottom 6 and the Buffalo Sabres are struggling with production from their bottom 9 forwards.
For better or worse, head coach Phil Housley has tinkered with the lines all season. The biggest duo that need to boost their offense is Kyle Okposo and Casey Mittelstadt. The 2 have combined for only 3 even strength goals in 16 games.
Kyle Okposo has only 1 point (a goal in the 9-2 rout against Ottawa) in his last 5 games. Although he is on pace to have a similar season statistically compared to the last few years, there was definitely hope that we would see more goal scoring from Okposo in 2018-19.
Casey Mittelstadt has also been underwhelming. The rookie center has only recorded a point in 4 of the club’s first 16 games. If the Sabres didn’t have such a lack of depth at center, I would have to think that Mittelstadt would be playing in Rochester.
Sam Reinhart came to camp late after failing to sign a contract before camp started. Reinhart had a huge second half of the season to close out last year and the expectation was his increased output would continue into this year. So far Reinhart has only 1 goal however he has put up 9 assists, 4 at even strength.
Phil Housley needs to find the right line combination for Sam Reinhart. For example, in the last game against Montreal, Vladimir Sobotka scored his first 2 even strength goals of the season.
It is also time for Tage Thompson to see some action again. Thompson only has 1 point in the 9 games that he has appeared in however has yet to see a lot of minutes and he may be a needed spark. Thompson practiced on Friday and might see the lineup in Saturday night’s game against the Vancouver Canucks.
Regardless of the lack of secondary scoring, it is refreshing to see the Buffalo Sabres scoring goals and winning games again. The Sabres already have 8 wins this seasons. To put that in context, the Sabres did not win their 8th game until December 12th last year.