The Buffalo Sabres took it to the Carolina Hurricanes not once but twice in a 48-hour time span
And while Buffalo Sabres fans can rejoice at their team’s continual improvement on the ice, there are still a few causes for concern that this team must address. During a two-game stretch, in which the Sabres split games with the Hurricanes and even tied them in goals scored, Carolina outplayed Buffalo in almost every facet of the game.
While it’s true the Hurricanes would have blown out the Sabres had the game taken place in February or even early March, it’s also true the Sabres still have a lot of growing up to do. Yeah, at the end of the game, the team with the most goals wins. Not shots on goal, not hits, not face-off wins, or takeaways.
But most often, teams who log better statistics throughout a contest get the win. And the more shots on goal a team gives themselves, or the more aggressive they become, the more chances they give themselves to win.
You can only wonder that if the Sabres were more aggressive with the Hurricanes and took more shots on goal, whether they would have exited Raleigh with the W. For example, minus the Hurricanes empty-netter at the end of the game, they converted four of 31 shots on goal. The Sabres converted three of 21.
Do the math, and the Sabres logged a higher goal scoring percentage. They also committed just one more giveaway than the Hurricanes and beat them in takeaways with nine compared to the Canes’ five.
Yet they looked soft in both contests against the Hurricanes. Here are three glaring weaknesses Carolina exposed, and until the Sabres resolve them, they will continue to struggle against the NHL’s best teams.