Buffalo Sabres must make a few offensive adjustments
By Sion Fawkes
The Buffalo Sabres looked like a completely different team offensively in Thursday’s 3-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, logging 45 shots on goal.
On Tuesday night against the Seattle Kraken, the Buffalo Sabres logged just 16 shots on goal and basically sleepwalked their way through the final game of their nine-day road trip. Forty-eight hours later, and they looked like a different team, tallying 45 despite losing 3-2.
By contrast, the Montreal Canadiens put up 34, meaning the Sabres got 24.5% more shots off and still found a way to lose. Okay, how does a team manage to lose games like these? It was something Edmonton Oilers fans asked themselves after the Sabres won 4-2 on the road on just 24 shots on goal as opposed to Edmonton’s 48.
Sometimes, it’s just good goaltending, and Sam Montembeault was stellar in the net for Montreal; just as Comrie was in last week’s win over Edmonton. But other times, it’s because a team didn’t generate enough second chances, and that is what hurt the Sabres last night.
Buffalo Sabres are just a few offensive adjustments away
Dylan Cozens summed it up better than anyone else:
"“We got lots of shots. But we might need more bodies around the net to get those rebounds and get those greasy goals. Not every goal is going to be pretty.” – via the Buffalo News."
The Sabres drove the puck well all night and even drove it to the net to give themselves good looks. When the puck rebounded, however, Montreal regained control of the puck too many times when the Sabres could have retained possession and perhaps recorded a few more shots on goal off of rebounds.
Tage Thompson also admitted that he passed up on multiple good looks throughout the contest, so it wasn’t all failing to take advantage of rebounds. Head coach Don Granato likened Tage’s effort, and that of others as trying to, “pass the puck into the net.”
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This shows us that the Sabres are still not where they need to be offensively, but in a game where they logged 45 shots on goal and 71 attempts, at least they were shooting the puck. Something they struggled with earlier in the season, despite scoring 22 goals over their five opening games.
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Article Source: Observations: Lots of shots but no rewards for Sabres in disappointing loss to Habs by Mike Harrington