Sabres fans never have a problem getting pumped up for a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, regardless of where either team sits in the standings. At this point in time Buffalo is well behind in the Leafs talent-wise and their second year head coach, Phil Housley, isn't close to Toronto's Mike Babcock, whom the Sabres courted coming out of their tank years.
Last night Buffalo was in Toronto for the second game of their four-game season series and the Sabres had a little wind in their sails. They'd played a good game against the NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lighting but fell short in the shootout in Tampa then came home for a matinee against the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals and won 5-2. In addition to that, Buffalo GM Jason Botterill was able to pull off a trade with the Anaheim Ducks for 24 yr. old defenseman Brandon Montour who should help a beleaguered blueline this year and into the future.
The Sabres seemed to ride that momentum into the first period at Air Canada Center as they dominated the Leafs over the first 20 minutes. With the ice decidedly tilted for most of the period Buffalo pumped 16 shots on goal to Toronto's six and left the first period with the 1-0 lead. However, scoring only one goal despite playing most of the period in the Leafs end wasn't nearly enough against a team with their firepower.
Toronto came out blazing in the second period and before you knew it they blitzed Buffalo for three goals in a matter of 2:04. This isn't anything new to the Sabres this year as we've seen something like that on a number of occasions. Buffalo Hockey Central tweeted out this morning that Buffalo had been steamrolled like that in a number of games this season:
TOR--3 goals in 2:04
FLA--3 in 2:35
EDM--3 in 1:55
STL--2 in 0:54
PHI--3 in 2:50
CBJ--2 in 0:29
SJS--2 in 0:25
COL--2 in 1:38
Most of those games were blowout losses with three (COL, SJS, CBJ) coming in the first 11 games of the season.
Housley did the best he could trying to stop the madness without using a timeout as he replaced starting goalie Carter Hutton with Linus Ullmark. It didn't help as Ullmark was peppered with nine shots in a matter of just under six minutes before former Sabre Tyler Ennis broke through with a breakaway goal to make the score 4-1.
"Their a terrible hockey team," said TSN analyst Jeff O'Neill during the second intermission. "It's the sign of a brutal team. The first 20 minutes they look like they're engaged, they look like Ray Ferraro's Atlanta Thrashers. For 20 minutes they're really good, but if you stay with it they just fold and it's exactly what they've done."
The smug O'Neill is correct to an extent as Buffalo at it's worst is exactly the team he described. Yet, despite being outmanned they still have Jack Eichel. Despite the Sabres getting steamrolled for a 10 minute span of the second period, they managed to score a 5-3 powerplay goal late in the period and were only an Eichel goalpost away from being down by one goal with a full period to play. At the beginning of the third period Eichel didn't miss as he clanked one in off the post just nine seconds into the third period to make the score 4-3.
Buffalo created a lot of tense moments for Leaf Nation as they almost pulled off a game-tying goal on two occasions but Toronto goalie Fredrik Anderson snuffed out in-tight opportunities by Jason Pominville and Rasmus Dahlin, the latter of which came with 2:43 to play. A breakaway goal by the Leafs Kasperi Kapanen just 25 seconds after Dahlin's shot sealed the win for Toronto.
Credit to the Sabres for making an heroic comeback, but that blitzkrieg of goals is just too much for a team like theirs to overcome. They have top-end talent like Eichel and Dahlin, Sam Reinhart and Jeff Skinner but the rest are struggling mightily in their roles up front. The back end has games where they play lock-down hockey and games like last night where it's a Chinese fire drill. A lack of overall talent necessitates an adherence to the game plan and a laser focus on their responisbilities on defense. A breakdown in either usually means a loss and a breakdown in both areas often leads to an onslaught of goals the likes of which they don't have the talent to recover from.
Such is the 2018-19 season.
Having said that, they're learning, but at times it's painful to watch. With just about a quarter of the season to go if they continue to put forth the effort they have the last three games, minus the 10 minutes in Toronto last night, they'll surprise themselves and although the playoffs a reach at this point, if Botterill continues to add talent, like with the acquisition of Montour, the sharp edges of inconsistency should smooth out and opportunities for wins will become more prevalent. Good on Botterill for putting the onus on this team to learn what it takes to win at this time of year. Although it watching them flounder isn't fun, one would hope that their growing pains will begin to wane and they can effectively take the next step.
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Speaking of adding talent, Botterill's acquisition of Skinner fits that mold. The 26 yr. old Skinner was acquired last off season and was a huge move for the Sabres. Although he understood what Skinner could do in the goal scoring department, especially 5v5, Botterill admitted yesterday that he underestimated just how valuable adding talent to the team was. At his post NHL Trade Deadline presser Botterill talked about the excitement his team had when they brought Skinner aboard and was feeling the same reaction with the addition of Montour.
However, Skinner is a pending unrestricted free agent and the trade deadline may have had an adverse affect on re-signing him.
The big trade of the day sent Ottawa Senators winger Mark Stone to the Vegas Golden Knights and the team promptly signed him to an eight-year contract extension worth $76 million. The $9.5 million cap hit may have thrown a monkey wrench into Buffalo's negotiations with Skinner.
UFA negotiations can go in a lot of directions and depending upon the player they can get real messy. Early this season the price for re-signing Skinner may have been in the $8 AAV area give or take $500K. As Skinner continued to add to his goal totals the price may have creeped up leaving the seven's behind. Skinner is now on a career-high 40-goal pace with a shot at hitting 50 and with a team like Buffalo who's been starved for goals, that price may have creeped up towards the $9 million mark. With Stone signing that deal yesterday, $9 million might now be the minimum and it puts Botterill over a barrel.
The Sabres need Skinner, and in a way Skinner may need the Sabres. The chemistry he has with Jack Eichel is unequivocal and he seems to like it in Buffalo, but when it comes to an opportunity to cash in on his last big contract, things like that may go out the window.
It's hard to see Buffalo wanting to go to $9 million/season much less over that and the key for Botterill will be signing Skinner to as close to that number as possible. Both Stone and Skinner are 26 years old but both bring a little something different to the table. Where as Stone is the more all-around player, Skinner is more the sniper. Since the 2013-14 season Stone is 45th in the league in scoring with 311 points (123+188) and averages 0.86 points per game while Skinner is 51st with 304 points (176+128) while averaging 0.67 ppg.
The Sabres really can't afford to lose Skinner. We know he won't approach Eichel's $10 million AAV but how far will Botterill go to retain Skinner.
Ideally they can get Skinner in at $8.75 million/season and they might be able to stretch it to the $9.25 million mark but anything more that that becomes treacherous.
Hopefully they can stay in that range.
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