It’s safe to say that the Sabres most valuable players this season come down to two names: Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin. But you can argue that Dahlin has the edge here. One reason is this: We know that when Dahlin’s out with an injury, the Sabres are a very, very bad hockey team.
Or, if Dahlin isn’t recording numbers in the points column, the Blue and Gold are almost equally as bad. Consider this: Dahlin wasn’t available for eight of the Sabres 13 losses during that infamous losing streak. In the five losses he played in, Dahlin finished with exactly zero points.
Striking, yeah? But it gets better. When the Sabres finally broke their losing streak in that 7-1 shellacking against the New York Islanders, Dahlin got on the board with four assists. Fast-forward to wins over the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues, and Dahlin finished with a total of three points.
In the Sabres last two losses, Dahlin finished with just one point, which came in the overtime loss and ultimate collapse against the Colorado Avalanche.
Maybe the Buffalo Sabres just need Rasmus Dahlin to play good hockey
Judging from the above data alone, it wouldn’t hurt the Blue and Gold if their star defenseman played good hockey all the time. Here are some more interesting tidbits:
- In the Sabres first three losses of the season, Dahlin never recorded a point.
- He finished with his first point of the season when the Sabres earned their first win
- When Dahlin has scored multiple points in a game, the Sabres have lost just twice
All of that said, it leads to one conclusion: Rasmus Dahlin has got to start playing better hockey for the Sabres if they want to beat powerhouses like the Knights. Not that Dahlin hasn’t been playing good hockey because that would be a fib, but if Buffalo’s looking to dig its way out of this massive hole and upend some contenders, their star defenseman must bring his A-Game.
We’ll see if Dahlin does that when the Sabres face off with Jack Eichel and his Golden Knights. Buffalo has shown that they can shock and jump out to respectable leads against contending teams, but holding those leads is another story. Maybe if Dahlin puts up a couple of assists, that won’t be so much of an issue.