3 X-Factors that will make or break the rest of the Sabres season
Each year, there is that underperforming team that is way more talented than its record in the NHL, and the Sabres have been that team for all of 2023-24.
The Sabres haven’t enjoyed a strong season to date, but although they are a good 10 points from even a wild card, let’s not assume just yet that they are completely out of it. On March 20th, 2023, the Blue and Gold sat eight points outside of a wild card, and they closed the gap with relative ease, ending the year just one point out.
The Pittsburgh Penguins were the second team in the wild card at the time, and they ended up collapsing. With that being said, the Sabres still hold onto hope even throughout a season when it has looked like all hope has been lost on more than a few occasions, including Thursday night’s debilitating loss to the Florida Panthers.
If they want to regain that ray of hope, here is a trio of X-Factors that can make their season. But if they fail to capitalize on the following X-Factors, they unfortunately won’t see their playoff drought end just yet.
Goaltending has been a ray of hope in an otherwise inconsistent season
Nobody, not even the most faithful and optimistic Buffalo Sabres fan, would have predicted Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to record four shutouts by mid-February, a remarkable 2.51 GAA, and a 0.913 save percentage. Last year, Luukkonen looked like he was at least a season away from being even a remotely effective goaltender in the NHL, but few netminders in the game today have shown so much improvement.
Luukkonen’s ability to lock down the net has given opponents headaches many times this season, and his efforts have kept things manageable for the Sabres pedestrian scoring units. If he stays consistent and healthy down the stretch, the Sabres, at the absolute least, will be in most games that he plays in.
And if Luukkonen can get even better, as has been the case throughout 2023-24, then his presence will make the Blue and Gold’s job a lot easier should they at least remain on the outside looking in.
Consistency is something the Sabres have struggled with all year
While it’s great to have a goaltender of Luukkonen’s capabilities, the Sabres have yet to build any sort of long-term momentum throughout the first four full months of the 2023-24 season. You would have thought that by now, they would have won more than two straight games, but here we are, on February 17th, 2024, and the Sabres have yet to accomplish that.
For context, the San Jose Sharks and the Anaheim Ducks have both managed to record three-game winning streaks. It shows us just how far bleak things have been for Buffalo even after their most convincing wins of the year.
Earlier this week, they had a big win when they put up seven goals vs. the Los Angeles Kings in what became Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s fourth shutout of the season. So perhaps this big win will be the outlier and finally catapult the Sabres on a roll that they will need if they would like to end their league-high playoff drought in 2024.
But if inconsistency continues to plague the Blue and Gold, it won’t be long until they officially say hello to yet another year without playoff hockey. The good news is that the window is still open, but if inconsistency remains their only consistency, then that window will close sooner than later.
Special teams have shown flashes but have yet to get it together
Okay, let’s be honest: The Sabres power play has been miserable this year, and that’s putting it lightly. When it’s mid-February and you’re in the bottom-five of the league and converting under 15 percent of your attempts, something isn’t right. But, there have been plenty of games this year when the power play looked like the top-10 unit that they were a season ago.
Therefore, while they have been horrible for the most part, it doesn’t mean Buffalo hasn’t shown flashes on the man advantage. Ditto for the penalty kill, which has more than once gone for games without allowing a power play goal, and it’s not like the Sabres aren’t prone to committing penalties.
They have allowed 163 power play opportunities against this season, the 18th-most in the league. Yet still, their PK unit has a serviceable 79.75 success rate, which ranks 17th.
Given how strong their penalty kill has often looked this season, there have also been times when they have looked anything but in sync. If the strong PK unit we’ve come to know at times this year shows up down the stretch, then once again, the Blue and Gold could make the rest of their 2023-24 season interesting.
feed
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference as of February 16th)