What went right (and wrong) in Buffalo Sabres loss to Carolina?
The Buffalo Sabres came up short last night, so what can they take into their final two games of the week, and what do they need to improve?
The Buffalo Sabres may have come up short last night against the Carolina Hurricanes, but there was no shortage in finding some positive takeaways in this game. For one, Ryan Johnson and Rasmus Dahlin made a tremendous duo, and for another goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen enjoyed yet another strong outing.
The Sabres paid some close attention to detail on both of their goals last night, so that’s another plus. And yes, a few things went wrong, particularly the power play despite Dahlin converting one, and once again, inconsistencies overall with the puck. Let’s discuss them all in-depth, starting with that dynamic first pairing.
What went right, and what went wrong, in Buffalo Sabres overtime loss?
Right – Top defensive pairing
Ryan Johnson has shown us through two games that he deserved a spot in the Buffalo Sabres lineup. In two games, Johnson has a point, a plus-2, five blocked shots, and logged two takeaways. Last night, his ice time increased to 19:26 and he played like he belonged so much, that we saw him out there late in the game.
Rasmus Dahlin continues to do Rasmus Dahlin things, scoring on a heads-up power play goal and giving the Buffalo Sabres a chance to win it in overtime. Per Hockey Stat Cards, Dahlin had the best game score of 2.98 while Johnson took third place at 1.82. The duo also graded with the highest defensive impact, with Dahlin snagging a 1.49 and Johnson, a 1.63.
Wrong – Power play
It was great to see the Blue and Gold convert one on the power play, but it was more of a heads-up pass from Casey Mittelstadt to Dahlin, who just caught the Hurricanes playing a bad defensive sequence. Overall, the power play was awful, and Carolina goaltender Antti Raanta faced just three shots on goal when the Sabres had the man advantage.
So despite the conversion, the simple eye test shows us that Buffalo has a lot of work to do on the man advantage. Before Dahlin’s goal, it was the worst I had ever seen it this year.
Right – Goaltending
The more Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen plays, the more confidence he should instill in all of us. Sure, he had a bad game this past Friday vs. the Philadelphia Flyers, but there isn’t a single goaltender that won’t struggle through a few bad performances, especially when the entire team struggles.
Despite the overtime loss, Luukkonen bounced back and snagged a 0.920 save percentage in regulation, including 16 of 17 (0.941) at even strength before the overtime frame. Given how worn out the Sabres skaters were before Martin Necas scored the overtime winner, there is no way anyone can pin last night’s loss on Luukkonen.
Wrong – Inconsistencies with the puck
Once again, the Buffalo Sabres were inconsistent with the puck, snagging just 20 shots on goal in regulation. This has been an issue recently, as Buffalo put up 22 or fewer on net in three of their last four games since last Wednesday’s 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
We know the offense can score, evidenced by the fact they have put up six goals or more twice this season, and that they’re 10th overall in goals scored with 41. Still, if they want to fully embrace the high-octane identity that they had last season, they need to consistently get pucks to the net, and it hasn’t happened in the season’s first 13 games.
Right – Heads up plays
Buffalo’s power play goal from Dahlin last night was nothing more than a sound heads-up pass from Casey Mittelstadt. But that was the second of a pair of heads-up plays, with the first coming earlier in the game from JJ Peterka.
Peterka, while sliding across the ice and nearly into the boards, located the puck, and nudged it in front of Carolina’s crease. For a fraction of a second, it looked as though the Hurricanes retrieved possession before Alex Tuch skated over, retook possession, and found twine.
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The Sabres, especially when they are struggling to get shots on net, must pull off those “attention to detail” plays more often. Without Mittelstadt’s and Peterka’s efforts last night to make something happen, the Blue and Gold weren’t walking away from this one with a point, and they wouldn’t be two points outside of the top three as of Wednesday morning.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference and NHL.com)