The Buffalo Sabres may not be scoring as often as they were last season, but they are getting way more consistent offensively.
For weeks, and throughout the first quarter of the 2023-24 season, the Buffalo Sabres high-octane identity from last season just wasn’t there. But since the third period in their loss to the Detroit Red Wings, the Sabres are slowly rediscovering what made them such an effective team in 2022-23.
In tonight’s 5-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes, the Sabres logged 38 shots on goal, continuing their ways of passing the puck less and shooting it when they have a chance. Sure, they are still letting shooting lanes close occasionally, and that happened a few times tonight, but here are their final shots on goal tally dating back to last week’s loss vs. Detroit:
- vs. Arizona: 38
- vs. Montreal: 48
- at Boston: 35
- vs. Detroit: 32 (14 in the third period)
We would like to see the puck find twine more often as was the case last season, but you can’t get to Step 2 unless you re-master Step 1, which means to simply get pucks to the net. Since the Detroit game, the Sabres are logging an average of 38.25 shots per game, and perhaps tonight was the beginning of a breakthrough goals-wise.
Buffalo Sabres finally seeing some consistency on offense, is scoring next?
The Sabres may not get another career season out of Tage Thompson in 2023-24, or another step up the rung from Dylan Cozens, but that’s okay. JJ Peterka and Jeff Skinner have 12 goals apiece and are on pace for 34 each if they continue on their current trajectory, so they can more than handle the scoring.
Rasmus Dahlin iced the game with an empty-netter, which accounted for his seventh goal of the season and 23rd point overall, as he also snagged an assist. Dahlin is another high-scorer who may not reach the same scoring threshold that he did last season, but a pace between 65 and 66 points, along with 20 goals is still more than serviceable.
Overall, the Buffalo Sabres have shown us they can get back to playing the kind of game that made them so entertaining last season. The puck hasn’t found the net too often, but they are giving themselves chances, and after a five-goal game tonight, it could finally mark the beginning of fully rediscovering that high-octane game.
(Statistics provided by NHL.com and Hockey-Reference)