Major network once again gets it wrong about the Buffalo Sabres
By Sion Fawkes
The Athletic, like many major news networks, has not been kind to the Buffalo Sabres, but this is their lowest of accuracies the young season.
Supposedly, the Buffalo Sabres showed a lack of killer instinct against the Montreal Canadiens in their 3-2 loss on Thursday night. While the Sabres passed up on some good looks and could have been more aggressive in getting puck rebounds, can someone explain how repeatedly driving the puck deep into the offensive zone and compiling 45 SOG lacks killer instinct?
To me, the Sabres showed plenty of aggression and resilience, which I pointed out last night. Yeah, they could have hit more, and again, they let a few goal-scoring opportunities slip. But it was a far cry from the sorry sleepwalkers they were on Tuesday against the Seattle Kraken.
There was nothing wrong with the Sabres puck aggression – 45 SOG is an ultra-high number. The real problem? They just need to make a few simple adjustments to their attack and they will convert more than they did on Thursday night.
The Buffalo Sabres were more aggressive than given credit for
Clearly, they didn’t score enough goals. But for an outlet to somehow claim this team wasn’t aggressive enough when they compiled 45 SOG is puzzling. I mean, Sam Montembeault took First Star honors for this game. If the Sabres logged their usual 23-25 shots in this contest, Montembeault isn’t getting recognized.
The guy blocked almost everything the Sabres threw at him last night. I personally likened his performance to what Eric Comrie did to the Edmonton Oilers last week.
In short, lack of killer instinct did not doom the Sabres, just as it didn’t doom the Oilers in last week’s road win. Montembeault’s performance ultimately doomed Buffalo, just as Comrie doomed Edmonton.
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The Sabres didn’t play a perfect game, obviously. But to suggest they lacked a killer instinct in a nail-biter is just flat out wrong. My advice: Watch the game. Maybe then, you will make a more accurate observation.
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Article Source: Sabres observations: Lack of ‘killer instinct’ dooms Buffalo in loss to Canadiens by Matthew Fairburn