The Buffalo Sabres have allowed an inexcusable 25 goals over their last five games.
It doesn’t matter who’s pairing with who these days. The Buffalo Sabres are struggling in every defensive facet. But can we only blame the defensive pairings for the team’s struggles?
Going back and watching game film from the Sabres most recent matchup against the Dallas Stars, there are plenty of plays where the defensemen are in the right position. Unfortunately, there are so many errors occurring all over the ice that the defensemen can’t keep up. Sure, the defensemen have been caught out of position often, but the film shows two more culprits.
This is why the Buffalo Sabres are struggling on defense
Early in the first period, goaltender Craig Anderson continued putting his defensemen behind the eight-ball with yet another rebound on what should have been an easy save. In fact, he did this twice within the game’s first four minutes. While nothing came of it at the time, the Dallas game served as the most recent example of Anderson’s continual rebounds giving opponents second chances to score. It did happen late in the second period, on a Michael Raffl score.
Of course, far too many times, the Stars forwards had their way with the Sabres defensemen. Late in the first period, they caught both Mark Pysyk and Robert Hagg out of position for a two-on-one breakaway, resulting in Anderson making a highlight-reel save. But, like Anderson’s (and Dustin Tokarski‘s) rebounds, the Sabres defensemen on all three lines routinely allowed these breakaways that eventually led to goals.
Midway through the second, the Stars again pulled off a similar breakaway, ending in another spectacular save from Anderson. But, just a few seconds later, Joe Pavelski found himself wide open with Hagg once again out of position. Following a one-timer, the Stars took a 2-0 lead.
The Sabres also need to do a better job with maintaining puck possession. Ironically, they do well in the giveaway/takeaway department, sans the first period meltdown against Montreal. But they struggle to win face-offs, which further puts the team behind the eight-ball. Relentless rebounds often find opposing forwards, which makes life tougher on the defensemen.
So while the defensemen are struggling to keep opponents in front of them, the Sabres real struggles on defense is a team issue. Rebounds and failing to maintain adequate puck possession has contributed to the current losing streak. And unless something changes, it will continue.