Buffalo Sabres: 3 alarming weaknesses Carolina exposed
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.
Face-Offs
Just when it looked like the Sabres were turning their lack of face-off wins into a strength, the Hurricanes brought them back to Earth. On Tuesday, they won 42.9 percent of their face-offs before winning just 36% of them on Thursday night.
The Sabres have struggled with winning face-offs all season, although they had a phenomenal outing in the category last week against the Nashville Predators. The Sabres won that game 4-3, and gaining and maintaining puck possession throughout the contest contributed to the win.
While they won the face-off battle against the Florida Panthers, they ended up losing 5-3. But not before a strong rally in the third period put the Eastern Conference’s best on its heels.
Since they are constantly losing face-offs, the Sabres are forced to create turnovers to give their scorers a chance to play the inevitable game of catch-up. And while they perform well in the takeaway column, it’s rarely enough to overcome NHL powerhouses like Carolina and Florida.
Shots on Goal
While the Sabres have improved in this category, they have a tendency to go for periods and even entire games with substantially fewer shots on goal. Over the previous two contests, the Hurricanes outshot the Sabres 66 to 43.
And what’s demoralizing here is the Sabres scored seven times in those two contests, good for a 16.2 shooting percentage. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes also scored seven times for a 10.6 scoring percentage.
The above has been a common theme among the Sabres all season. Lack of face-off wins and aggression (see next slide) has led to opponents outshooting them on nearly a nightly basis. And while the team has played better lately, they don’t give themselves enough chances to win hockey games.
Yeah, they get around it sometimes, as they demonstrated on Tuesday. Last month, in overtime losses to the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers, the Sabres experienced the same issues. And it makes you wonder if they would have won those contests had they given themselves more scoring chances.
Aggression
This is another category where the Sabres at times seemingly improve. But against Carolina, they looked soft for 120 minutes over a two-game span. Against the Hurricanes, the Sabres logged 28 hits, an average of 14 in each game.
On Thursday, Carolina recorded more hits than the Sabres had both games combined with 37. They also amassed 22 on Tuesday night at the KeyBank Center, for a grand total of of 59.
Giving credit where it’s due, the Sabres weren’t afraid to put their bodies on the line, logging 22 total blocks compared to Carolina’s 12. But that’s not the point. The Sabres need to get more aggressive throughout the contest and try to separate opponents from the puck.
Right now, they’re just not doing that. And combined with losing so many face-offs and giving themselves few scoring chances, lack of aggression is giving them even less opportunity to take over games.
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While the Sabres are growing as a team, Carolina did a phenomenal job over past two games in exposing glaring weaknesses. They need to take this as a learning opportunity which will in time translate into more puck possession and scoring chances.