Buffalo Sabres played better defensively vs. Los Angeles than you think
By Sion Fawkes
Despite the final score, the Buffalo Sabres played a better defensive game than you may otherwise think, which is one positive takeaway.
Obviously, when you lose 5-2, you didn’t put up the greatest defensive effort, and the Buffalo Sabres have struggled defensively all season. But it wasn’t so much as the defense playing poorly as much as it was Craig Anderson struggling through arguably his worst performance of the season.
Per Natural Stat Trick, the Kings didn’t have the best shot selection, and netted only 2.1 in the expected goals category. This stat gives us further insight on just how well the Sabres played defensively when compared to most games this season.
But Anderson allowed at least two goals that he shouldn’t have, including one where the puck rested right next to him and he lost track of it, only for Viktor Arvidsson to spot the puck and poke it into the net for the Kings fifth goal. Per Lance Lysowski of Buffalo News, it was one of three goals that, in his words, came on “broken plays or weird bounces.”
Buffalo Sabres must keep up their defensive effort
While it was an ugly final score, the Sabres defensive effort is something they can build on, and it was a much-needed effort considering how often they allowed opponents to get behind them on easy breakaways. The defensive performance didn’t come without opportunities to improve, as Buffalo gave the Kings a lot of space to work with, which accounted for two of those goals.
Overall, chalk this one up as a closer game than the score otherwise indicated. Had we seen vintage Craig Anderson last night, the Sabres were looking at a narrow loss or even a win if they could have ditched together one last effort to find the net.
More. Despite loss, Buffalo Sabres line switch was a good idea. light
If this trend continues, and if the Sabres figure out how to prevent their opponents from seeing so much open ice, they will climb another rung on the ladder even if things are looking rather bleak at the moment. We’ll see what they do against Anaheim and San Jose.
Article Source: Observations: Special-teams woes continue for Sabres in fourth straight loss by Lance Lysowski
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