The Buffalo Sabres are still searching for answers among their forwards and trying to figure out what the best combination is to get four productive lines. On Monday at practice, the Sabres shuffled the lines again, but this time, surprisingly, elected to break up their best line.
According to Rachel Lenzi, the Sabres had Zach Benson on the top line with Tage Thompson and Konsta Helenius. Meanwhile, Jack Quinn and Noah Ostlund were on the second line with Josh Doan.
Still adjusting to California time but if I’m looking at the #Sabres lines correctly in practice, they’re in a bit of a blender
— Rachel Lenzi 💁🏻♀️😎💥 (@rachelmlenzi) October 26, 2026
Benson-Thompson-Helenius
Doan-Ostlund-Quinn
Zucker-Norris-McLeod
Krebs-Kozak-Malenstyn
Through the first 11 games of the season, the Buffalo Sabres have had only one line that has had more than 40 minutes of ice time together. It was the line of Benson, Ostlund, and Quinn with 115 minutes with the line of Peyton Krebs, Tage Thompson, and Josh Doan having the second most with only 38 minutes.
One of the reasons the Sabres have kept them together is that they have been so productive. In fact, this line has the fourth-best xGoals % in the entire NHL at 65.1% of lines with 80 or more minutes of ice time, according to MoneyPuck.
Lindy Ruff is hoping to spread out the scoring by splitting this line
After practice, Lindy Ruff was asked about pairing Benson with Tage Thompson and mentioned what went into the decision to break up his best line. "I think we've seen that before, and that combination a lot of times has been good for us, and I think we need to spread out that scoring. We can't be so heavy on one line. I think we can see where we are at; we are a .500 team, and we've got to look for something better."
In the playoffs last season, Zach Benson and Tage Thompson played well together on a line and finished with a CF% of 60.21%, generating 12 high-danger chances compared to nine against.
It certainly is a risk for the Sabres to split up this line, but it might be needed to get others going and producing more than they have this season. Thompson does have five goals already this season but has the lowest shooting percentage over the past six seasons at 11.1%.
Helenius is another player who has gotten off to a slow start with only one goal and one assist to begin the season. However, the goal was in the season opener, and his only assist was in the second game against the Montreal Canadiens.
As Lindy Ruff said, the Sabres can't accept losing and sometimes that means making bold lineup changes to see what might work. It will be interesting to see how these line combinations look against the Sharks or they may be going right back to the drawing board for their game against the Ducks on Thursday.
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