Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
From Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News:
"Here’s a believe-it-or-not stat from a season full of them: The Buffalo Sabres have scored the first goal in nine of their last 10 games. "
During that 10-game span, the only time the Sabres didn't score first was in Tampa Bay the day after the trade deadline when they didn't score at all in a 3-0 shutout loss. Buffalo's record in the other nine games is 3-4-2.
Buffalo fans will probably remember a time period under former coach Lindy Ruff where the team would get off to a sluggish start only to begin playing when the game was close to being out of reach. It didn't matter if it was home or away, the first or the second game of a back-to-back, hitting the road, coming home after a road trip, autumnal equinox, vernal equinox or winter solstice. It didn't matter. We can't count how many times those squads came out flat.
There's a different dynamic this season right now as opposed to back then. Under Ruff, lethargy enveloped his core group as their star skaters were locked-up long-term. For the rest of this season we'll witness a Sabres squad full of younger players and borderline NHL'ers looking to make their mark with Buffalo or get noticed by some other NHL club.
Opportunity's knocking and they're answering.
With the roster upheaval that took place between the Tyler Myers trade on February 11th and the March 2nd deadline, 29 team-goals left Buffalo, roughly one quarter of the total number of 122 goals scored by the team to date. The top four centers on the Sabres--Johan Larsson, Phil Varone, Zac Dalpe and Tim Schaller who scored 59 goals in a combined 192 AHL games for the Rochester Americans this season--have totaled seven goals in 53 combined games for Buffalo this season.
That a last place team can get the jump on the opposition, especially with a foursome like that, is somewhat surprising. And it's not a knock at any of the individual players. In fact, Larsson is coming off of a three point night in Toronto. He has gotten the team on the scoreboard first in each of the last two games. Varone scored the Sabres' first goal in the game before that.
Varone was on the top line in that game between Tyler Ennis and Matt Moulson before Larsson took that spot. Said Sabres bench boss Ted Nolan of the switch, “Varone was there, but he played pretty good for a couple of games and now has tailed off a little bit, so we’ll back him off a little bit and we’ll give Larsson that look.”
Both have benefitted from playing between the Sabres best scorers and their best playmaker in Ennis, but Larsson has taken it to another level. In two games he has two goals and two assists and is a plus-three. Since the deadline Nolan has seen a marked improvement in Larsson's game going from a bottom-six role, to top-six, to top-line. It took him a few call-ups and nearly 20 games this season to figure it out, but it would seem as if he's done so.
“He’s been a lot different, I think he’s really been just concentrating on playing" said Nolan of his Larsson.
Ennis has also noticed how Larsson's grabbed the opportunity, "To be honest, my first impression of him was forechecker, grinder-type," said Ennis. "But he's really opened my eyes the last couple of weeks with his offensive upside."
Said Nolan, "I thought Larsson really seized the moment."
This young Sabres squad is doing it's best to "sieze the moment." Unfortunately, with a roster comprised of those four centers, plus two other AHL call-ups and some youngins on the back-end, that moment is fleeting during a game as they're more easily figured out and eventually overwhelmed by superior talent.
"Their preparation and readiness for a game is still good," wrote Harrington, "even in the face of their 30th place standing among NHL teams. Talent is what’s wearing them out.
"Buffalo’s goal differential is minus-18 in the first period of games. But it’s minus-38 in the second period and minus-45 in the third. [The Sabres] are getting burned by their lack of skill and their propensity for taking penalties and being unable to kill them."
"We like our starts," summed up Nolan. "When teams turn it up a notch, we got to learn to defend better."
It won't get any easier for this team heading into the next six games. The eastern conference-leading NY Rangers come to town tonight with talent oozing from every position. Buffalo finishes out a three-game in four night segment with a visit from the Washington Capitals on Monday before travelling to Boston on Tuesday.
After two days rest, the Sabres have another three game in four night stretch where they'll play host to New Jersey on Friday, travel to Nashville on Saturday then finish up at Dallas on Monday. The Devils and the Stars are the only teams outside a playoff spot right now.
The debate as to how well this team is being coached will rage for the rest of the season, but it's a debate done in a vacuum. Why is he doing this? Why that? How come player-x is playing here? Is he doing well? Are players developing properly? Is he effin' up the tank? Does the GM like him?
It's a no-win situation, which is actually a good thing, I guess because in Buffalo this year, no-win is a win.
If you're following.
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