Buffalo Sabres: 3 reasons Don Granato breaks Curse of the Pegulas
By Sion Fawkes
The Buffalo Sabres have come too far
In the first section, we talked about the Buffalo Sabres late-season performances, which was one of the league’s best in March and April 2022. But this is only half of the story, split by the fact Terry Pegula seems to have finally learned the fact that Rome was not built overnight, or even in two years, for that matter.
Under Granato, the Sabres have just come too far in what was really a short time. They were one of the worst teams in the league offensively for most of last season. Especially during those lean months. Then, they ended up scoring a respectable 3.14 goals per game to close out the season.
Besides that, their power play and penalty kill unit increased dramatically. Last season, the Sabres finished 16th in the power play, at 21.2 percent. But before that, they were struggling mightily, if you remember correctly. Before the break, they converted below 20 percent.
Also before the All-Star break, the Sabres penalty kill ranked 26th, at 75.2 percent. They managed to bring that number up to 76.4 for the entire season, finishing 23rd. They scored an average of 2.53 goals per game from October 2021 to February 2022, and 3.14 per game afterward.
light. More. Sabres will not add new names to the roster
And these are just a few examples of how far Granato has taken this team. I can write an entire article on the subject, but this at least covers the key points. In short, Granato has just coached this team too well for anyone to even remotely think that the Pegulas will let him go. If they do, someone will pick up this diamond in the rough.
Article Source: Sabres’ Coach Granato Facing the “Curse of the Pegulas” by Matthew Morris
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)