Buffalo Sabres: Growing pains are hurting so good…seriously

The Buffalo Sabres losing streak has increased to eight games following a loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, bringing their overall record to 7-11-0. 

There was a moment tonight, during the Buffalo Sabres blowout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, where I just had to burst out laughing. Because at that point, I thought to myself, I’m enjoying this. I’m having a blast sitting at my computer, watching the livestream, and watching the Maple Leafs blow the Sabres out of the water.

Sound counterintuitive? Maybe. But it was a remark made during the broadcast that made me start enjoying the onslaught: “They have an opportunity to grow together.” The broadcast was, of course, talking about the Cozens line, flanked by rookies Jack Quinn and J.J. Peterka, combined NHL experience: 171 games. 

It’s the second line, three players in the top six who, when you factor in 82 games for an NHL season, equals 2.08 total seasons of NHL experience combined. Want more fun? There were four players on the ice with fewer than 30 games of NHL experience – Quinn, Peterka, Owen Power, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

And it sums up the Sabres: The youngest, most inexperienced team in the NHL. A team that is going to have so many growing pains that eventually, all that pain is going to start feeling really good.

Why? Because if you watched the game between the lines, we saw some good things from the Sabres tonight. Translation: Some of those growing pains have already started to fade. Let’s explore them.

The final score did not reflect the Buffalo Sabres performance

Sure, the Sabres fell to the Leafs 5-2, but this team matched their biggest rival physically, landing 28 hits. I was especially impressed with Rasmus Dahlin, who went after Leafs star player Auston Matthews several times.

Further, the Sabres outshot the Leafs, which on the surface is a bad stat given the Sabres recent tendency to take way too predictable shots. I saw that again tonight, but I also saw that they crashed the net more often tonight than they had in the recent past – another sign of improvement. 

While they gave up 14 giveaways, they also intercepted Toronto plenty of times. In the recent past, teams were simply passing methodically on the Sabres. And sure, the Blue and Gold had a lot of problems too – they started slow again, their penalty kill was abysmal again, and yes, they gave the puck away far too many times, and mishandled far too many easy passes.

But as I said at the beginning of the article: I had a blast watching the mishaps. Why the madness? Because I know they’re nothing more than Point A. And tonight, the Sabres pointed the compass north a little further from Point A and a little closer to Point B in terms of physicality, creating turnovers, and showing more aggression in the offensive zone. And it felt good to see a little bit of growth, despite losing the game 5-2.

I’m throwing the W’s and L’s out the window for the time being. Right now, I only care about seeing an improved product on the ice, even small improvements that I saw tonight. For a young team like the Buffalo Sabres, I’m embracing the chaos, the journey, and what, should everyone stick together and I think they will, the view will look like atop the the NHL’s apex when this team gains enough experience to compete. That time is coming, and in the meantime, sit back and enjoy the journey.

(Statistics provided by NHL.com)

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