3 things that are trending up for the Buffalo Sabres following win

Oct 17, 2023; Buffalo, New York, USA; Buffalo Sabres left wing Jeff Skinner (53) celebrates his goal with teammates during the first period against the Tampa Bay Lightning at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 17, 2023; Buffalo, New York, USA; Buffalo Sabres left wing Jeff Skinner (53) celebrates his goal with teammates during the first period against the Tampa Bay Lightning at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
2 of 3
Next

The Buffalo Sabres still have issues to work on, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a few things going for them following last night’s win.

In their season-opener vs. the New York Rangers, the Sabres allowed a power play goal, and they have been nothing but stellar since when facing the man advantage. Last season, the Sabrehood probably uttered collective groans every time someone from the Blue and Gold entered the penalty box, but there has been a different mentality so far this season.

Following their loss to the New York Islanders, the penalty kill was one positive from Week 1 to look fondly at. But here we are just one game into Week 2, and it’s safe to say the PK was dominant once again last night. The Sabres are currently 10 for 11, good for a 90.91 PK percentage following the third game, so let’s hope that continues into tomorrow’s contest vs. Calgary before they again face the New York Islanders.

But we recently talked about the Sabres improvement at 4-on-5 earlier in the week, so let’s discuss three other areas of their game that look to be trending north.

Oct 17, 2023; Buffalo, New York, USA; Buffalo Sabres center Dylan Cozens (24) celebrates his overtime goal with teammates against the Tampa Bay Lightning at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 17, 2023; Buffalo, New York, USA; Buffalo Sabres center Dylan Cozens (24) celebrates his overtime goal with teammates against the Tampa Bay Lightning at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports /

3 things trending up for the Buffalo Sabres

1 – The Tage Thompson line

Yesterday, I asked whether the Tage Thompson line would see success vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the answer was a resounding yes. While neither Tage Thompson nor Alex Tuch scored, Jeff Skinner gave the line its first of what will eventually be many goals of the season, mark me.

But it doesn’t mean Tage and Tuch didn’t make an impact, because per Hockey Stat Cardsonly Skinner, Tyson Jost, and Zemgus Girgensons enjoyed greater impacts as far as forwards go. They both offered more than a fair amount of overall impact on offense; the duo just didn’t grace the stat sheet in the points column.

Tage was especially close to scoring, however, giving himself a few good looks in front of Lightning goaltender Jonas Johansson. This line hasn’t found its stride like it enjoyed last season just yet, but if Tuesday night’s win was an indicator, they are closer than close to a breakout game.

Oct 17, 2023; Buffalo, New York, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Brandon Hagel (38) and Buffalo Sabres goaltender Devon Levi (27) look for the puck during the first period at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 17, 2023; Buffalo, New York, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Brandon Hagel (38) and Buffalo Sabres goaltender Devon Levi (27) look for the puck during the first period at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports /

2 – Defensive play

While the Buffalo Sabres failed to maintain a multiple-goal lead (again) and lacked physicality, it shouldn’t take away from a pair of sound defensive efforts that started on Long Island. It’s still early, but the Sabres have allowed just five goals in their previous two games while scoring five of their own.

If this trend continues, then it shows us that the Blue and Gold won’t need to score four or more goals so much just to bail out poor defensive play, something that ultimately caught up to them last year. As this team continues to mesh and gain experience playing alongside one another with new faces like Zach Benson, Jordan Greenway (he only has 20 games with the team), Devon Levi (10 games), Conner Clifton, and Erik Johnson, it’s realistic to see the entire unit playing better defense.

So far, Benson and Greenway have made for a dynamic duo when flanking Casey Mittelstadt, while Levi has saved 47 of his past 52 shots on goal, good for a 0.903 save percentage. Once Johnson and Clifton continue to get acclimated (remember, they didn’t have much ice time in the preseason), this team may surprise onlookers when they don’t have the puck.

Oct 17, 2023; Buffalo, New York, USA; Buffalo Sabres center Peyton Krebs (19) during a stoppage in play against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the third period at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 17, 2023; Buffalo, New York, USA; Buffalo Sabres center Peyton Krebs (19) during a stoppage in play against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the third period at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports /

3 – Faceoff wins

No, one game doesn’t mean the Buffalo Sabres have solved their problems along the faceoff dot, but at least they had a few players dominate there last night. And dominate they did, because as a team, the Sabres collectively won the faceoff battle 27 to 26. But Kyle Okposo won 5 of 6, good for an 83.3 win percentage, while Tage Thompson took 9 out of 16, eeking out a 56.3 FOW%.

Peyton Krebs also won 66.7 percent of his draws, or 8 of 12, so between the trio, Buffalo won 22 of 34 draws, good for a 64.7 FOW%. The problem, however, is that the rest of the team finished just 5 for 19, so the Blue and Gold need a few more players to step up.

Related Story. Buffalo Sabres: Early returns show inserting Tyson Jost was the right call. light

Either way, it’s still a start for the Sabres, and given how badly they’ve looked at the faceoff dot over the last few years, we’ll take the narrow win. Now, can it transfer into the next two games on the slate for Week 2?

(Statistics provided by ESPN.com and Hockey-Reference)

Next