3 major areas the Buffalo Sabres must improve for Week 2
By Sion Fawkes
The Buffalo Sabres played a much better game on Saturday night, and it should lead to an even stronger performance this Tuesday.
The Buffalo Sabres are off to a rough start, but the good news is that we’re only two games into the season. If you do the math, the Blue and Gold are just 2.4 percent of the way through, so they have more than enough time to improve. But that doesn’t mean we can’t nitpick and start pointing things out here in October.
Through a pair of games, the Sabres are toiling through two areas that they were strong in last season. They are having a tough time playing their usual high-octane game, and their power play has been off, both of which I’ll outline below.
The Sabres have struggled with winning faceoffs throughout the last few seasons, and 2023-24 doesn’t look to be any different. Is there a solution, or will the Blue and Gold sweat through another trying season at the faceoff dot?
3 areas the Buffalo Sabres must improve on
1 – Faceoffs
Per Lance Lysowski of Buffalo News, the Sabres are 23 for 65 at the dot, good for just a paltry 35.38 winning percentage. However, it hasn’t been all doom and gloom, with Dylan Cozens winning 14 of 27 draws so far on the season. Unfortunately, Cozens has been the only one with a respectable win percentage who is regularly taking faceoffs.
Tage Thompson sits at 12 for 36, which translates to a 33.3 percent success rate, while Casey Mittelstadt is five for 24, winning just 20 percent of his draws. The Buffalo Sabres fourth forward, Peyton Krebs, also hasn’t fared any better, winning just 30.8 percent of the time.