Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
First off, Happy New Year everybody.
The Buffalo Sabres followed 6-6-1 record for the month of November with a very similar 6-7-1 record in December and just like the previous month it was a tale of two halves.
Buffalo followed up a strong 5-1-0 finish in November by going 5-2-0 to kick off last month. After that it was pretty much all down hill.
An overview of this 28th-place Sabres team shows, appropriately, that they rank 27th or below in every major team stat. Their shots-for/shots against per game ratio is by far a league-worst minus-12 and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that having 12 less shots per game means that you're more than likely going to be outscored on a regular basis. Hence a league-worst minus-52 goals differential for Buffalo as well.
Adding to those stats are an anemic powerplay sputtering at a league-worst 9.4% and a 27th ranked penalty kill (76.7%.) Buffalo's 44.5% faceoff percentage will tell you that the Sabres are chasing the puck far too often. While advanced statisticians will point to puck possession and Corsi numbers, etc, the bottom line is if you can't win faceoffs you're chasing the puck. If you're chasing the puck, you're gonna get outshot. And if you're getting outshot, you're putting a ton of pressure on your goalie to keep you in games.
The Sabres have relied upon the strong goaltending of Jhonas Enroth for the better part of two months now and ultimately ended up with a middling record. During the month of December Enroth started 11 games and was in net for all 13 points as the team went 6-4-1 with him between the pipes. He faced an average of 32.5 shots/game while giving up an average of 3.27 goals/game.
While digging a bit deeper into the Sabres' December play the results are interesting in that they were barely eking by in their wins and getting blown out in their losses. All six of their wins in December were by one goal, including one OT win and two SO wins.
Conversely, Buffalo had a lone, one-goal loss at Florida 3-2 (excluding their OT loss at Boston.) Of their remaining losses, two were by three goals (DET, OTT,) three were by four goals (WPG, COL, TBL) and the other was a 5-0 shutout at Tampa Bay.
Also of note, all six of the Sabres wins in December were at home as they finished 6-2-0 at First Niagara Center.
We all know what's at stake come June. We all know the limited talent that head coach Ted Nolan has to work with right now. We know that the team is very young and that injuries and trades will adversely affect where the Sabres finish the season.
In looking at this past month, the team is doing it's fans right by giving the home crowd something to cheer for while saving it's clunkers for the road.
Kinda hard to argue with that approach for this season.
Buffalo Sabres Team Stats:
Wins
--October: 2 (29th)...(NHL Leader--ANA, 9)
--November: 8 (27th)...(NYI, 17)
--December: 14 (T-24th)...(CHI,25)
Points
--October: 5 (29th)...(ANA, 18)
--November: 18 (27th)...(NYI, 34)
--December: 31 (28th)...(ANA, 54)
Points Percentage
--October: .227 (29th)...(MTL, .773)
--November: .375 (27th)...(PIT, .739)
--December: .408 (28th)...(NSH, .708)
Atlantic Division Standing
--October: 8th...(MTL)
--November: 8th...(TBL)
--December: 8th...(TBL)
Eastern Conference Standing
--October: 16th...(MTL)
--November: 14th (PIT)
--December: 14th (TBL)
League Standing
--October: 29th...(ANA)
--November: 27th..(PIT)
--December: 28th...(ANA)
Goal Differential
--October: -24
--November: -33...(PIT, +26)
--December: -52...(CHI, +39)
Goals/Game
--October: 1.09 (30th)...(PIT, 4.00)
--November: 1.67 (30th)...(TBL, 3.50)
--December: 1.84 (30th)...(TOR, 3.29)
Shots/Game
--October: 21.2 (30th)...(CHI, 38.1)
--November: 22.3 (30th)...(CHI, 36.1)
--December: 23.2 (30th)...(CHI, 35.4)
Goals against/Game
--October: 3.27 (21st)...(ANA, 1.83)
--November: 3.12 (27th)...(NSH, 1.96)
--December: 3.34 (29th)...(CHI, 2.08)
Shots against/Game
--October: 36.7 (30th)...(MIN, 23.2)
--November: 36.5 (30th)...(MIN, 25.8)
--December: 35.4 (30th)...(MIN, 26.5)
Powerplay
--October: 2.9% (29th)...(PIT, 39.5)
--November: 7.2 (30th)...(PIT, 31.6)
--December: 9.4 (30th)...(CLB, 24.4)
Penalty Kill
--October: 85.4% (9th)...(DET, 94.1)
--November: 77.0 (25th)...(CHI, 91.3)
--December: 76.7 (27th)...(CHI, 90.5)
Faceoff Percentage
--October: 41.4 (30th)...(CAR, 54.4)
--November: 41.0 (30th)...(MTL, 55.9)
--December: 44.5 (30th)...(DET, 55.1)
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