3 X-Factors that will make or break the Buffalo Sabres season

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Apr 1, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Buffalo Sabres right wing Alex Tuch (89) skates around Philadelphia Flyers left wing Noah Cates (49) during the third period at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports /

3 – Special teams

Speaking of the power play, when it’s back to operating at peak capacity with Tage in the lineup, it needs to convert at least 25% of the time. When on the man advantage, the Sabres, and it’s been a recurring theme all year, lapse into the bad habit of trying to land the perfect shot on goal, and it’s cost them both at full strength and on the power play.

If they just shoot the puck more often, clean look or not, their odds of converting these power plays increase thanks to the possibility of a rebound. The same goes at even strength, but if the Sabres want to take advantage of teams like the Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes, New York Rangers, and New Jersey Devils, they need to come up big on the power play.

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Meanwhile, their penalty kill has been abysmal all season until recently. For the season’s final seven games, the PK unit must keep playing the way they have in these previous five games, where they’ve gone 10 for 11, or a 90.9%, as opposed to the 31st-ranked unit they were over the first 70 contests.

(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)

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