Loss to Canes proves Buffalo Sabres have ways to go
By Sion Fawkes
The Buffalo Sabres are a much-improved hockey team, but a loss to the championship-caliber Hurricanes shows there is still much to be done.
If there is one way to describe the Buffalo Sabres loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday Night it is with this phrase: The ‘Canes capitalized on opportunities, and the Sabres didn’t. It seemed as though the Sabres had a plethora of good looks throughout the contest in all three frames. Problem was, someone tripped, the passes were too early, too late, or the Hurricanes simply got a stick on them at the last fraction of a second.
This is one of those games where you saw two teams that matched well in talent, and yes, the Sabres did match the Hurricanes from a talent standpoint. Problem was, they remain light years behind Carolina in experience, and it was the deciding factor in Buffalo’s first loss since they went down to the Montreal Canadiens last week.
Inexperience costs the talented Buffalo Sabres in loss
Despite the loss, the Sabres played impressive hockey. They created looks and they showed much-needed grit. There were many times where it looked as though the Sabres were going to log a shot on goal, or to get one past goaltender Antti Raanta, but it always seemed like a Hurricane was there to cause just one small disruption, and it killed the play.
So while the Sabres have ways to go in the experience department, what the Hurricanes are today is what you can expect the Sabres to be when this team sticks together for the future. And they showed flashes, taking advantage of 13 Carolina giveaways while they just committed three themselves.
The Blue and Gold also had seven takeaways to the Hurricanes 10, and 17 solid hits while Carolina had 20. Overall, it’s one of those losses that was not necessarily a bad performance. The Sabres created, they played defense well despite giving up five goals, and they, even without hard hitters Ilya Lyubushkin and Mattias Samuelsson on the ice, got physical.
They just lack in the experience department while Carolina is one of those hockey teams with built-in chemistry. This was a game I didn’t expect the Sabres to win, and one where while the W would be great, in all honesty, the W/L didn’t matter as much as whether the Sabres would make this a game.
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For most of the contest, they did. If this team stays healthy and they continue to play these experienced teams hard, they will eventually snag those W’s. And better yet, they won’t come in the form of upsets.
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