Will the Buffalo Sabres ever resolve their most pressing issues?

The Buffalo Sabres may be winning, but sooner or later their usual issues are going to catch up with them. When will they break the cycle for good?

Honestly, it’s getting laughable for the Buffalo Sabres. Yeah, they’re winning and scoring more points than their opponents. Okay, great, fantastic. But how long can the Sabres keep getting outshot, outmuscled, and really, losing more faceoff battles than they’re winning.

Craig Anderson and Eric Comrie have been remarkable in the net, but every goaltender, sooner or later, is going to have a bad game. They may suffer an injury, which will force the Sabres to look to Rochester, or given Anderson’s age and Comrie’s relative inexperience in starting no more than a handful of games in a single season, this tandem could even hit a wall.

Therefore, the Sabres have a slew of issues that must be addressed sooner than later, especially when they allow 40-plus shots on goal per game. Something that occurred against both the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames.

Buffalo Sabres MUST resolve some key issues

The following issues have plagued the Sabres dating back to last season. They currently have a faceoff win percentage of just 48.5%. And although they are, through five games, winning faceoffs 1.5% more than they were the previous season, it still indicates they are losing the battle for puck possession. And they have spent a lot of time in their defensive zone throughout this road trip.

Ilya Lyubushkin has definitely added a physical edge to this hockey team, but they are still averaging a paltry 13 hits per game, over two hits fewer than last season’s average of 15.19 per contest. And if you remember correctly, I wasn’t too happy about their lack of physicality in 2021-22.

Currently, we are seeing the Sabres average 29.2 shots on goal per game. Last year, they sat at 29.9 per contest. Once again, it’s only a five-game sample size compared to an 82-game size, but the Sabres are trending downward in this young season.

It’s not necessarily time for the Sabres to push the panic button yet. But this article is saying that they need to create more chances for themselves by first winning faceoffs, and second, by generating better shot selections.

They could also stand to get more physical, which could lead them to disrupt more plays and force more turnovers. Right now, this team, while they have made some statement wins, can and should be playing better.

But so far, they have yet to exorcise a few demons. Maybe they can deliver a more physical game with even more offense in tonight’s contest.

(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)