Buffalo Sabres must change the defensive pairs before their next game against Boston

For the first time all season, the Buffalo Sabres had all of their Top 6 defensemen as Michael Kesselring made his season debut. Up to this point, the defense has been inconsistent at best, but with Kesselring back, this can be a strength of the group.

Entering this game, the defensive pairs were a little surprising as Mattias Samuelsson was with Rasmus Dahlin on the first line, Connor Timmins was with Owen Power for the second pair and then Bo Byram was with Kesselring on the third pair.

The decision to put Kesselring on the third pair might have been due to the Sabres wanting to ease him back after an extended absence. He did end up having the fewest minutes of all the defensemen at 17:56.

However, moving forward the Sabres need to find the best three pairs that maximize the talent this group has. There needs to be changes because one of the pairs was nothing short of a disaster, as Connor Timmins and Owen Power had some of their worst games of the season.

According to HockeyStatCards, Timmins and Power team defense was easily the worst of anyone on the Sabres against the Blue Jackets.

The performance by Timmins was especially surprising because, up to this point in the season, he had played very well. He has had to take on an expanded role with the injuries the Sabres have had and has been able to handle those extra minutes.

Buffalo Sabres need to get Michael Kesselring paired up with Owen Power

At the time of the trade this past summer when they brought over Kesselring and Josh Doan, it seemed clear where Kesselring fit best on this roster, and that was right next to Owen Power. The former first-overall pick hasn't really lived up to expectations to this point in his career, but he hasn't had a player with Kesselring's skill set next to him.

After that, the Sabres can figure out what the other two pairs look like and have options. Samuelsson has played great this season and has earned his way into a spot on that top pair alongside Dahlin. The question is whether Samuelsson is the right fit next to Dahlin, who has also struggled this season.

This would leave Timmins playing with Bo Byram, and are two players that might work well together. However, Byram likely would not be happy being on the third pair after believing that he is a top-pair caliber player.

Regardless of what they do, Lindy Ruff and the coaching staff can't keep the defensive pairs the same going into the game on Thursday against the Boston Bruins.