Prime takeaways from the Buffalo Sabres victory over Wild
After getting over .500 against the Minnesota Wild, here are first-person takeaways from the Buffalo Sabres big win last night.
For the first time all season, the Buffalo Sabres have a winning record. That could change tonight as they face off against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but I want to talk a little about last night. It was not pretty at some parts but the Sabres held on to get the victory.
I was at the game last night and some things really stood out to me in the win. In this article, I am going to give you a first-hand account of what stood out to me. From the good and the bad, it will be in this article.
Takeaways from the Buffalo Sabres big win over Minnesota
Special teams issues
For my first takeaway, the Sabres power play still remains to be an issue. Minnesota has the worst penalty kill in the league but despite that, Buffalo had four power plays last night and could not score on any of them. I will say during the last chance they had, there were some signs of life even though the Sabres could not cash in.
If this team wants to make the playoffs, the power play needs to figure it out. It baffles me how bad it’s been but there is a lot of time to figure it out and to turn the tide.
Dylan Cozens
Another minor issue, Dylan Cozens didn’t have his best game. It was his first game back after suffering an injury in the Flyers game last week. It’s not a glaring issue, just a small bad takeaway. He lost the puck a couple of times and made some poor decisions but I don’t think it’s anything to be concerned with.
I’m sure he’s not 100% and playing with a cage could have something to do with it but like I mentioned earlier, it’s not something to be extremely concerned about. He was benched in the third as well, so we’ll see if he can rebound tonight against the Penguins.
Faceoffs
My last negative takeaway, faceoffs has also been a lingering issue. Last night against the Wild, Buffalo won 15 out of 55 faceoffs which is 27 percent. Minnesota won 40 of them to be successful 73 percent of the time. Some people might not think too much of them but in certain situations, they are very important.
You don’t need to be a diehard hockey fan to understand that winning a faceoff could determine what is going to happen on the next possession. Again, it’s still very early on the season but they need to win more of them.
Effort
Enough of the bad, let’s get into the good. Even though it was a very ugly first half of the game and a scary finish, the Sabres did a good job of bending but not breaking. At one point in the third period, Buffalo could not get out of their own zone.
Even in the first half, it was a very sloppy effort defensively but as I just mentioned, they did not break and scored a couple of goals when they figured it out. A huge reason why they didn’t bend, the person I’m going to talk about in my next takeaway.
Devon Levi
Devon Levi was absolutely amazing last night. Both of Minnesota’s goals were just perfect one-timers that he had no chance on. He made some incredible saves when he was tested and was clutch to preserve the victory for Buffalo at the end of the game.
He stopped 33 out of 35 shots, you can honestly make the case that he played the best game of his young NHL career. In my opinion, he definitely played the best game this season so far. We will see if he can continue whenever he starts next time but as for the Wild game, he was excellent.
Casey Mittelstadt’s presence was bigger than many think
Casey Mittelstadt looked like a man possessed last night. Even though he did not register a point in the victory, he looked phenomenal. There was one point where he had the puck for at least 10 seconds, skating around Minnesota defenders and almost burying the puck in the back of the net.
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The fact he didn’t score or get a point last night should be a criminal offense because he was electric to watch last night. Casey is my final takeaway from the game because the way he played, it’s baffling he ended the night with zero points.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)