The Buffalo Sabres are off to a solid start in April 2022, showing that March was no outlier in their continuing quest to hang with playoff contenders
The Buffalo Sabres are a fast-rising hockey team. And while they are just 2-3 in April 2022 at the time of this writing, all three losses have come against the Eastern Conference’s best teams by a score of 14-9. No, it’s not a great look, but it’s better than the 15-2 meltdown they suffered during their three losses in March. Translation: Progress, even with a losing record.
As I write this, the Sabres currently have nine games remaining in their 2021-22 season, with four more games coming against playoff contenders. And if they can hang with the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers, even if they looked completely outmatched at times, who can’t they hang with?
And Owen Power‘s arrival will be one major factor that determines the team’s success over the rest of the month. No, Power won’t see too much ice time. Yes, he will make rookie mistakes. But with Power skating into the lineup to play teams with only film from his college and Olympic days, he is most certainly an X-factor.
Look for Power to be a game changer a couple of times. Yeah, he will have the occasional “what was he thinking moments” that all rookies experience. But Power will also play like the two-way defenseman he was in college. Especially against lesser-talented teams.
Power’s presence will immediately upgrade the Sabres defensive pairings. And besides his offensive ability, look for Power to exert his physicality on opponents, delivering the big hit, disrupting plays, scoring takeaways, you name it.
He will be inconsistent. But he will bring fans out of their seats more in just eight games than Jack Eichel did in his 375 appearances with Buffalo. And I’m sure Eichel himself would admit that.
We know Power is a factor heading into the middle of April. Here are three more to check out.