Buffalo Sabres are a few penalties away from being a scary hockey team
The Buffalo Sabres dropped their 13th game of the season to the Colorado Avalanche 6-4, but in what was a hard fought loss tonight.
Thought I’d use an adjective the great Rick Jeanneret once used to describe the Buffalo Sabres, but they aren’t quite there yet. And when I say quite, I am hedging here, because if the Sabres can stay out of the box against teams with elite power play units, they will be winning these games.
One of the keys to winning this game was for Buffalo to play more disciplined hockey and stay off the penalty kill. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and it dug them into a 5-3 hole in the second period and one that was too deep for them to claw their way out of.
Toward the end of the game, Peyton Krebs was sent to the box, giving the Sabres one minute at even strength to try and put together a last-minute push. Didn’t happen, and now we’re left to wonder of what could have been had they simply exercised more discipline tonight.
Buffalo Sabres played a better-than-advertised game
Despite the 6-4 loss and penalties playing a huge factor in this one, I saw a lot of good things. First and foremost, the Sabres scored 4-plus goals for the third game running, once again showing that they are one of the best in the NHL when on the attack. They continued to crash the net, and they finished a respectable 2 for 7 on the power play.
They were also the more physical team tonight, not only finishing checks, but Henri Jokiharju, Mattias Samuelsson, and Kyle Okposo, among others, clocked a few Avs players. It’s great to see the physicality build on a team that has been sorely lacking it.
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Overall, losses are never fun, but the Sabres had some good moments and played an outstanding game against one of the NHL’s better teams on a back to back, mind you. Once they figure out how to cut the penalties (13 in two nights), and cut them consistently, it will put this team one step closer to being “scary good.”
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