What is wrong with the Buffalo Sabres? (5 major concerns)

The Buffalo Sabres may have squeaked by with a win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night, but this team is anything but perfect. 

The Buffalo Sabres sure know how to make things interesting for themselves, given their 3-1 deficit as the third period ticked by. More than once, I was convinced the Blackhawks would run out the clock and hand the Sabres their third-straight loss.

Then Tage Thompson scored twice, before Victor Olofsson put it away in overtime. The KeyBank Center was absolutely electric, even when it looked like the Sabres were sleepwalking again, but to a lesser extent.

Getting the W is great, but last night’s win and the previous few outings showed this is a flawed team with some major concerns. Let’s break them down below and see if the Sabres can provide a remedy.

1 – Shot selection

I will give the Buffalo Sabres credit – They logged 40-plus SOG in each of the past two games. But they also got predictable. So much, I caught myself accurately looking toward the player that was going to get the next shot off, and it made life easy for Blackhawks goaltender Arvid Soderblom early.

Even during their overtime goal, myself and I’m sure everyone in the arena knew who was getting the puck. For the Sabres to make more of their 40-plus SOG, they must find ways to catch opponents by surprise.

2 – Lack of physicality

This may no longer be a major concern once the Sabres get their sledgehammers in Ilya Lyubushkin and Mattias Samuelsson back. But they have just 90 hits on the season. While they do a fair job at getting into opponents’ shooting lanes, their lack of physicality translates into why it’s so tough for them to consistently disrupt plays.

3 – Faceoff inconsistency

While the Buffalo Sabres have a fair faceoff man in Casey Mittelstadt (52.5% FOW%), he is the only one on the team consistently taking faceoffs with a 0.500 FOW% or better. But Mittelstadt is nowhere near as consistent as he needs to be.

And it showed last night, when the Sabres, as a team, logged a sickening 28% FOW%. Someone needs to step up and give the team more opportunities to gain puck possession early. This will take a lot of pressure off of a patchwork defense and the goaltenders.

4 – No pressure

It seemed like the Blackhawks were pressuring the Sabres all evening until they started to slow down midway through the third. But Chicago’s pressure was one of the main reasons the Sabres could not get anything going for the longest time offensively.

In contrast, the Sabres didn’t just lack physicality, they were allowing the Blackhawks to just drive the puck up the ice without much resistance. If the Sabres let a better team drive the puck like that, they won’t be winning many games. I’d love to see someone get into an opposing player’s face often before they skate into and through the neutral zone.

5 – Positioning on defense

Two of Chicago’s three goals last night came because of bad positioning on defense, and last night’s outing was not the only one where the Sabres had some trouble. You saw it on Taylor Raddysh’s goal, where Tage Thompson looked unsure on who to cover, leading to little help for goaltender Craig Anderson.

The Sabres need to work on playing better defense period. But when opponents are looking to create a scoring opportunity, they need to know who they are supposed to be covering and where they need to be on the ice.

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(Statistics provided by NHL.com)