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

3 of 3

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)

Home/Sabres News