Before we get to the team stats through January, a quick look ahead at a very important stretch of games. The Sabres will be at KeyBank center for a seven-game homestand beginning tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks. Here's the rest of the schedule:
2-5---Minnesota Wild
2-7---Carolina Hurricanes
2-9---Detroit Red Wings
2-10--Winnipeg Jets
2-12--NY Islanders
2-15--NY Rangers
After that they'll play four more games before the February 25 NHL Trade Deadline and what happens between now and the 25th will have a direct impact on how Buffalo GM Jason Botterill will approach the deadline.
It all begins tonight against a Blackhawks team that has had their way with the Sabres. In their last 10 games Buffalo is only 1-6-3 against the Hawks, 2-6-2 at home. The Sabres pulled out a 5-3 win vs. Chicago at home last season and should they win tonight it will be the first time Buffalo has managed consecutive wins against the Blackhawks since winning three in a row between December 3, 2003 and December 15, 2007, according to Sabres PR.
Despite the poor track record, this is a very winnable game for the Sabres. However, even though the Hawks sit in 30th place right now, they still have some highly skilled players and are three-time Stanley Cup champions. In addition, the Sabres are having struggles of their own.
Buffalo comes into the matchup tonight with 56 points on a 25-19-6 record. In a league full of parity the Sabres and their real .500 record are right around the middle of the league sitting in 14th place both in points and points percentage (.560).
It's been a manic November though January in Sabreland and they laid to waste the old adage that says you should know what kind of hockey team you have by Thanksgiving. If that truly was the case, the Sabres would be near the top of the conference battling the Tampa Bay Lightning for supremacy in the East. Fifty games into the season, this is an inconsistent, often erratic Sabres team and it looks very similar to the team we saw at the end of October.
When you look at all the numbers related to the standings, as well as most defensive stats, the team at the end of January is the same team we saw at the end of October. On offense the team got better going from 2.58 goals/game in October to their present 2.84 g/gm and they also showed some improvement in shots/game and 5v5 scoring. Also showing solid improvement was the penalty kill as it went from 78.9% to 81.9% which keeps them ranked in the top-10 after a month-over-month drop.
One area that could really have helped the Sabres up their record a bit is the powerplay which took a precipitous dive.
Two years ago the Sabres had the best powerplay in the league converting 24.5% of their opportunities. That number slipped to 19.1% in 2017-18, held at 19.2% through the end of December and thanks to a 1/25 month of January is now at 16.7%. Making matters worse is that league-wide powerplay numbers are up. At present there are six NHL teams who have a better percentage than the 24.5% Buffalo put up in 2016-17.
Sabres head coach Phil Housley and assistant coach Davis Payne have some work to do in that area, but past performance might be indicative of where the powerplay is ultimately headed. When Payne was head coach in St. Louis, the Blues powerplay clicked at a 17.7% rate between 2009 and 2011, his two full seasons there.
Buffalo Sabres 2018-19 YTD Team Stats (League Rankings)...(Leader):
Wins
--October: 6 (17th)…(NSH, 9)
--November: 17 (T-3rd)…(TBL/TOR, 18)
--December: 21 (10th)...(TBL, 31)
--January: 25 (T-15th)...(TBL, 37)
--2017-18: 25 (31st)...(TBL, 54)
--2016-17: 33 (25th)...(WSH, 55)
--2015-16: 35 (23rd)...(WSH, 56)
--2014-15: 23 (30th)...(ANA, 49)
--2013-14: 21 (30th)...(BOS, 54)
Atlantic Division Standing
--October: 5th...(TBL)
--November: T-1st (TBL)
--December: 3rd...(TBL)
--January: 5th...(TBL)
--2017-18: 8th...(TBL)
--2016-17: 8th...(MTL)
--2015-16: 7th...(FLA)
--2014-15: 8th...(MTL)
--2013-14: 8th...(BOS)
Eastern Conference Standing
--October: 6th...(TBL)
--November: T-1st (TBL)
--December: T-5th...(TBL)
--January: 9th...(TBL)
--2017-18: 16th...(TBL)
--2016-17: 15th...(WSH)
--2015-16: 14th...(WSH)
--2014-15: 16th...(NYR)
--2013-14: 16th...(BOS)
League standing/Points
--October: 14th/12...(NSH/18)
--November: T-1st/37 (TBL)
--December: T-10th/48 (TBL, 64)
--January: 14th/56...(TBL, 76)
--2017-18: 31st/62...(NSH/117)
--2016-17: 26th/78...(WSH/118)
--2015-16: 23rd/81...(WSH/120)
--2014-15: 30th/54...(NYR/113)
--2013-15: 30th/52...(BOS/117)
Points Percentage
--October: .583 (15th)…(TBL, .773)
--November: .685 (3rd)…(TBL, .712)
--December: .600 (9th)...(TBL, .800)
--January: .560 (14th)...(TBL, .760)
--2017-18: .378 (31st)...(NSH, .713)
--2016-17: .476 (26th)...(WSH, .720)
--2015-16: .494 (23rd)...(WSH, .732)
--2014-15: .329 (30th)...(NYR, .689)
--2013-14: .317 (30th)...(BOS, .713)
Goal Differential
--October: -4 (22nd)…(COL, +14)
--November: +9 (T-8th)…(TOR, +26)
--December: 0 (T-16th)...(TBL, +51)
--January: -4 (17th)...(TBL, 57)
--2017-18: -81 (31st)...(TBL, +60)
--2016-17: -36 (24th)...(WSH, +81)
--2015-16: -21 (20th)...(WSH, +59)
--2014-15 -113 (30th)...(NYR, +60)
--2013-14: -91 (30th)...(BOS, +84)
Goals/Game
--October: 2.58 (26th)…(PIT, 4.30)
--November: 3.04 (T-14th)…(COL, 3.73)
--December: 2.80 (22nd)...(TBL, 4.13)
--January: 2.84 (20th)...(TBL, 3.96)
--2017-18: 2.41 (31st)...(TBL, 3.54)
--2016-17: 2.43 (24th)...(PIT, 3.39)
--2015-16: 2.43 (25th)...(DAL, 3.23)
--2014-15: 1.87 (30th)...(TBL, 3.16)
--2013-14: 1.83 (30th)...(ANA, 3.21)
Shots/Game
--October: 30.3 (24th)…(CAR, 41.7)
--November: 31.6 (16th)…(CAR, 38.9)
--December: 32.1 (13th)...(CAR, 37.2)
--January: 32.3 (11th)...(CAR, 35.8)
--2017-18: 31.2 (20th)...(FLA, 34.4)
--2016-17: 30.4 (15th)...(PIT, 33.5)
--2015-16: 29.5 (17th)...(PIT, 33.2)
--2014-15: 24.2 (30th)...(CHI, 33.9)
--2013-14: 26.3 (30th)...(SJS, 34.8)
5v5 Goals
--October: 18 (25th)…(PIT, 33)
--November: 54 (9th)…(OTT, 63)
--December: 74 (19th)...(TBL, 107)
--January: 101 (15th)...(TBL, 127)
--2017-18: 119 (31st)...(TBL, 196)
--2016-17: 126 (28th)...(MIN, 187)
--2015-16: 121 (28th)...(DAL, 167)
--2014-15: 110 (29th)...(TBL, 181)
--2013-14: 96 (30th)...(ANA, 190)
Powerplay
--October: 20.0% (17th)…(WSH, 37.1)
--November: 19.5 (16th)…(COL, 31.4)
--December: 19.2 (19th)...(TBL, 29.2)
--January: 16.7 (23rd)...(TBL, 29.8)
--2017-18: 19.1 (20th)...(PIT, 26.2)
--2016-17: 24.5 (1st)
--2015-16: 18.9 (12th)...(ANA, 23.1)
--2014-15: 13.4 (30th)...(WSH, 25.3)
--2013-14: 14.1 (29th)...(PIT, 23.4)
Goals-against/Game
--October: 2.92 (15th)…(ARI, 1.91)
--November: 2.81 (T-11th)…(BOS, 2.40)
--December: 2.85 (11th)...(NSH, 2.58)
--January: 2.96 (14th)...(NYI, 2.41)
--2017-18: 3.39 (29th)...(LAK, 2.46)
--2016-17: 2.82 (19th)...(WSH, 2.16)
--2015-16: 2.62 (15th)...(ANA, 2.29)
--2014-15: 3.28 (29th)...(MTL, 2.24)
--2013-14: 2.96 (25th)...(LAK, 2.05)
Shots against/Game
--October: 32.2 (19th)…(VGK, 24.4)
--November: 33.1 (25th)…(VGK, 27.4)
--December: 33.1 (T-25th)...(CAR, 27.9)
--January: 32.6 (24th)...(CAR, 27.9)
--2017-18: 32.7 (23rd)...(CAR, 28.9)
--2016-17: 34.3 (30th)...(LAK, 25.9)
--2015-16: 30.6 (22nd)...(NSH, 27.3)
--2014-15: 35.6 (30th)...(LAK, 27.0)
--2013-14: 34.3 (28th)...(NJD, 25.5)
Penalty Kill
--October: 78.9% (15th)…(TBL, 93.2)
--November: 80.2 (12th)…(ARI, 89.5)
--December: 83.8 (5th)...(ARI, 87.7)
--January: 81.9 (9th)...(ARI, 86.9)
--2017-18: 77.9 (22nd)...(LAK, 85.0)
--2016-17: 77.6 (25th)...(BOS, 85.7
--2015-16: 82.6 (9th)...(ANA, 87.2)
--2014-15: 75.1 (30th)...(MIN, 86.3)
--2013-14: 81.4 (20th)...(NJD, 86.4)
Faceoff Percentage
--October: 49.0 (19th)…(PHI, 57.1)
--November: 47.8 (28th)…(PHI, 55.6)
--December: 48.0 (25th)...(PHI, 55.8)
--January: 48.6 (22nd)...(PHI, 56.4)
--2017-18: 51.5 (7th)...(CAR, 54.1)
--2016-17: 49.6 (17th)...(ANA, 54.7)
--2015-16: 49.4 (21st)...(ARI, 54.7)
--2014-15: 44.9 (30th)...(BOS, 53.6)
--2013-14: 46.8 (29th)...(NSH, 53.1)
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