The Buffalo Sabres are off to a 2-3-0 start through their first five games of the 2026-27 season. There are a couple of interesting storylines to already sweep through this team in the early going, with goaltending struggles from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to Owen Power being tied for the leading point-getter at five.
To add one more to the list, there is an interesting advanced stat to pay attention to. The Sabres are doing something that has been apparent over the last couple of seasons, largely in part to the coaching from Lindy Ruff. He wants this team to be fast and physical, and once again, the 2026-27 Sabres are following that code.
Let's talk about it.
Skating too much?
This team is skating a lot so far. Through five games, and according to NHL EDGE, the Sabres are skating the highest average amount of miles per 60 minutes of hockey, at 9.52 miles. That is 236.06 miles over the 16 periods of play, including the overtime win over Minnesota last week.
There are a couple of conclusions to come from why they are skating so much, and the obvious one is that they are working to get into their position. When looking at the rink, if a player can establish the offensive zone, which the Sabres have done a masterful job of as having that zone for 43.1% of the game, then movement is constant. Finding open lanes with and without the puck to create scoring opportunities is very likely why they rack up so many miles during a game.
Eventually going to catch up
The other conclusion to come from this mass amount of marathon skating is that it will eventually catch up. The Sabres have 14 back-to-back sets left this season, having played none so far. The first two come on Monday and Tuesday of this week, hosting the Florida Panthers at KeyBank Center and then heading up to Montreal.
Comparing that to last season, in which the Sabres had the third-most miles skated per 60 minutes at 9.31 miles, they also had to endure 14 back-to-back sets. Just because it worked out last season, with a record of 9-3-1 in the second half of the back-to-back, doesn't mean it will happen again, especially after a semi-deep playoff run last spring.
Sabres have multiple problems to fix
Skating too much is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as it's been done in the right ways. For example, when your players, combined, have the most speed bursts of 20-22 MPH in the NHL with 162, that's a sign the team is consistently skating hard.
The other issues of UPL's demise in net, as well as only scoring 11 goals over five games, are a completely different issue. There is an underlying threat that overskating could cause some issues toward the end of the season, but this has been Ruff's "modus operandi" since arriving in Buffalo.
This team is going to grind it out to the end, and hopefully, another playoff berth is the reward for it.
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