Sabres: The good, the bad, the ugly so far this season
The Buffalo Sabres have just completed their tenth game of the 2021 NHL season. The Sabres currently sit at 4-4-2 on the season. They are in sixth place in the East Division, but only one point out of a playoff spot at the moment.
We have seen some good things, some bad things, and even some ugly things this season. It is still early on, giving the Sabres time to capitalize on what they are doing well and work on the things they are struggling with so far.
The good
Linus Ullmark
If you look up Linus Ullmark’s stats, it’s nothing remarkable so far this season. With a save percentage (SV%) of .914 and a goals against average (GAA) of 2.56, he ranks in the low twenties out of all goalies in those categories.
But if you watch games that he plays in, you see that he is clearly the number one goalie in Buffalo. His stats are much better than those of Carter Hutton to start the season. There have been multiple games so far this season that Ullmark was the main reason why the Sabres won or escaped with a point.
Ullmark seems to be picking up momentum as of late as well. The Sabres are 3-0-1 in Ullmarks last four starts, including two games that went to a shootout. Linus has stopped six of six shots in those two shootouts, and the Sabres have two victories. Over his last four games, he has a SV% of .918 and has come up huge numerous times to keep the Sabres in close games.
Power play and penalty kill
The Sabres special teams units have been a vital part of the team early on in this season. Buffalo’s power play and penalty kill units rank in the top-10 in the league through their first ten games.
The Sabres power play unit is currently operating at 30.8%, ranking them at seventh in the NHL. With players such as Jack Eichel, Taylor Hall, and Rasmus Dahlin getting a lot of time on the power play, there is no reason they should ever rank outside the top-10. Buffalo’s power play should be among the best in the league all season long.
Perhaps one of the most surprising things we have seen from the Sabres this year is their successful penalty kill and ability to avoid being a man down altogether. Buffalo averages 5.5 penalty minutes per game, which is the fewest in the league. And when they find themselves a man down, they are averaging 82.6% on the penalty kill, which is good for tenth in the NHL.
The bad
Capitalizing on chances
The Sabres are a top-10 team in terms of their shots on goal per game. They average 32.2 shots on goal each game, which is the seventh most in the NHL. You would think that with so many shots on net that the Sabres would score a decent amount of goals too. But you’d be wrong.
Although they average the seventh most shots on net per game, they only score 2.8 goals per game on average, 20th in the league. More shots do not correlate to more goals for Buffalo so far this season.
This seems like it could be a classic case of quantity over quality, which is not working. The Sabres shooters should look to be a little more patient and capitalize on their offensive zone time. They have the talent that if they get a quality look, they will convert more times than not.
Ralph Krueger vs. Jeff Skinner
The line combinations that head coach Ralph Krueger has been putting on the ice seem to be different every game. And to be honest, I still don’t think that the best line combos have been found yet.
The biggest problem has been the use of Jeff Skinner. The Sabres signed Jeff Skinner to a massive contract two offseasons ago, but Ralph Krueger seems to refuse to play him where he should be played. Skinner’s production has been down this season so far, but look at his linemates. It will be difficult for anyone of Skinner’s playing style to produce with linemates such as Curtis Lazar and Riley Sheahan.
We have seen what Skinner is capable of when paired up with the Sabres’ most talented skaters. In Skinner’s first year in Buffalo, he was featured on the top line with Jack Eichel and had 40 goals and 63 points. That should be all the proof Ralph Krueger needs to see to bump Skinner into a top-six forward spot, but he still seems to refuse to do so.
The ugly
Carter Hutton
Sabres fans should be pleased that Linus Ullmark is starting to look like a viable goalie option because Carter Hutton is not the answer. With Hutton being the opening day starter for Buffalo, it looked like he and Ullmark would pretty evenly split the starting duties.
Hutton has started four games for the Sabres so far this season. In those four games, Buffalo is 1-3-0 and has given up 3.04 goals per game. Hutton has a dismal .895 SV% on the season.
From now on, it should be an easy decision for the Sabres to have a true number one goaltender. Ullmark needs to be in net as much as possible unless the Sabres were to make a move to acquire another goalie this season to pair with him.
Holding leads
This is something you have noticed if you have watched all the Sabres games this year. It seems to be like as soon as Buffalo gets a lead, they take their foot off the gas and seem to be content being conservative, the only exception being the 6-1 win against the Flyers.
Buffalo is not a team that has a roster that is built to play conservative hockey. With the amount of offensive-minded players they have and how inconsistent their defense and goalies can be, they need to push the pace through the entire game.
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The Sabres have the firepower. Between Eichel, Hall, Victor Olofsson, and Eric Staal, they will score plenty of goals. But due to the less than stellar defense, they are going to rely on this offense to win them games. When they decide to play overly conservative hockey with a one-goal lead, they play into their biggest weakness, and it shows.