Buffalo Sabres 2018-19 Individual Stats Leaders--February

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 2-28-2019


The Sabres had a 13-game month of February where they had an opportunity to stay in the playoff picture with even a decent month. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way as their four wins (4-7-2) would attest to and the underlying individual numbers certainly back that up.

For the most part individual plus/minus ratings are detested in the analytics community as many factors might be involved in the rating such as a player change seconds before a goal with neither player having anything to do with the goal being scored. However, there are occasions when it becomes noteworthy, most notably when those using that stat feel the need to highlight an individual players negative contribution to the team. The most familiar name in that realm is defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen.

Ristolainen has been a negative player his entire six-year NHL career with his best season in that department being a minus-9. His minus-130 overall is amongst some of the worst since the NHL started tracking the stat in 1967-68. Their are mitigating factors in the stat and in Ristolainen's case the Buffalo's two tank years and six years of overall team instability haven't helped matters. Regardless of that as of today he has a league worst minus-28 rating that was doubled by a minus-14 month of February.



However, he wasn't the only one that crashed in that department. As you look at the worst plus/minus rating for the month, Ristolainen led in that department followed by Jeff Skinner (-12,) Jack Eichel (-11) and Rasmus Dahlin (-10.) Those numbers also swung some of Buffalo's key players and scorers to the negative as Eichel went from a plus-8 to a minus-3 and  Dahlin went from a plus-9 to a minus-1. Skinner fell to a plus-3 on the year while Sam Reinhart is now even after posting a minus-7 for the month of February.

Perhaps there was a little too much high-risk high-reward playing this past month as all of those double-digit negative players (save for Reinhart) were amongst the Sabres scoring leaders this month . Eichel was a beast with six goals and 10 assists while Reinhart (6+6) and Skinner (5+7) posted 12 points apiece. "The Ramsi"--Dahlin and Ristolainen--lead all Buffalo d-men in scoring with 12 (3+9) and seven (0+7) points, respectively.

While the big guns were doing their jobs offensively, secondary scoring was lacking as it had been all season. Thirty-six yr. old Jason Pominville had four goals while the rest of the forwards managed only 10 goals combined. Worse yet, goalie Carter Hutton had an assist in February and his one point equaled or bettered the output seven Buffalo skaters (three forwards, four defensemen) who appeared in seven or more games.

The Sabres had spastic month. Sometimes they'd get smoked and at other times they'd keep it tight. Only twice did they win a game by scoring four or more regulation goals and only once did they win a game by a three-goal margin while on the down side they gave up five or more goals five times and lost by three or more goals three times. In the grand scheme of things their goalies took the hit. Both Hutton and Linus Ullmark contributed to this mess with some pretty shoddy play of their own and the numbers reflected it. Hutton played fairly well for the month once he got his footing but finished with only a 1-4-1 record while his stats moved only slightly to the downside. Conversely, Linus Ullmark saw his goals-against bloat to 3.03 and his save percentage drop to .909 yet he still came away with a 3-3-1 mark for the month.


Buffalo Sabres 2018-19 individual stats leaders (all stats via NHL.com):

Points
--October: Skinner, Eichel, 12; Pominville, 10
--November: Eichel, 20; Skinner, 16; Reinhart, 15
--December: Eichel, Reinhart, 17; Skinner, 11
--January: Dahlin 8; Sheary, Rodrigues, Reinhart 7
--February:  Eichel 16;  Reinhart, Skinner 12

Goals
--October: Skinner, 6; Pominville, 5; Eichel, 4
--November: Skinner 14; Reinhart, 5; Thompson, 4
--December: Eichel 10; Skinner 6; Larsson 3
--January: Skinner 5; Rodrigues, Reinhart 4; Thompson 3
--February:  Eichel, Reinhart 6;  Skinner 5, Pominville 4

Powerplay Goals
--October: Sheary, 3; Okposo, 2; four players with 1
--November: Skinner, 5; Reinhart, Rodrigues, Thompson, 1
--December: Eichel 3; Dahlin 2; Okposo, Skinner 1
--January: Skinner 1
--February:  Eichel 3;  Okposo, Dahlin 2;  four with 1

Assists
--October: Eichel, 8; McCabe, Skinner, 6; Reinhart, Pominville, 5
--November: Eichel, 19; Reinhart, 10; Ristolainen, 9
--December: Reinhart 15; Ristolainen 9; Eichel 7
--January: Dahlin 7; Sheary 6; Ristolainen, Sobotka 5
--February:  Eichel 10;  Ristolainen, Skinner 7;  Dahlin, Reinhart 6

Primary Assists
--October: Skinner, Reinhart, 4; Eichel, Pominville, Okposo, Ristolainen, 3
--November: Eichel, 14; Reinhart, 8; Ristolainen, 5
--December: Reinhart 7; Eichel, Ristolainen, 5
--January: Sheary, Rodrigues, Ristolainen 3; six players with 2
--February:  Reinhart 6;  Eichel, Skinner 5;  Ristolainen, Bogosian 4

Powerplay Assists
--October: Reinhart, 4; Skinner, 3; four players with 2
--November: Eichel, 5; Dahlin, 4; Reinhart, Ristolainen, 2
--December: Ristolainen 5; Reinhart 3; Eichel 2
--January: Dahlin, Reinhart 1
--February:  Dahlin 5;  Eichel 4;  Skinner, Reinhart, Ristolainen 3

Shots on Goal
--October: Eichel 47; Skinner 34; Okposo 28
--November: Eichel 58: Skinner 48; Ristolainen 34
--December: Eichel 55; Ristolainen 40; Skinner 39
--January: Skinner 35; Eichel, Reinhart 25; Dahlin 24
--February:  Eichel 51;  Skinner 49;  Reinhart 33

Shooting Percentage (15 shot minimum):
--October: Pominville 18.5; Skinner 17.6; Sheary 14.3
--November: Skinner 27.1; Thompson 26.7; Mittelstadt 16.7
--December: Larsson 18.8; Eichel 18.2; Skinner 17.1
--January: Rodrigues 17.4; Reinhart 16.0; Skinner 14.3
--February:  Reinhart 18.2;  Pominville 13.8;  Okposo 12.5

Plus/Minus (regulars playing in half or more games for the month)
--October: Skinner +10; Pominville +6; Beaulieu +3
--November: Reinhart, Dahlin, +9; Okposo, +8; Eichel, +7
--December: Reinhart +5; Eichel +4; Scandella, Pilut +2
--January: Dahlin +7; Bogosian +6; Sheary, Larsson +5
--February:  C.J. Smith, Rodrigues -1;  Pominville -2;  four at -3

Plus/Minus (Bottom)
--October: Ristolainen, -10; Reinhart, Sheary -7; Okposo, -6
--November: Larsson, -3; Girgensons, Rodrigues, Nelson, -2
--December: Okposo -9; Sobotka -8; Dahlin -6
--January: Scandella -4; Ristolainen, McCabe -3; three players at minus-2
--February:  Ristolainen -14;  Skinner -12;  Eichel -11; Dahlin -10

EV TOI/Game-Defensemen
--October: Ristolainen 18.25; Scandella 16:49; McCabe 16:41; Dahlin 15:51; Bogosian 15:06
--November: Ristolainen 20:46; Bogosian 19:58; Dahlin 17:43; McCabe 17:00; Scandella 14:57
--December: Bogosian 19:54; Ristolainen 19:34; Dahlin 19:18; Pilut 17:46; Scandella 16:21
--January: Ristolainen 19:27; Dahlin 18:34; Bogosian 18:21; McCabe 17:02; Pilut 16:17
--February:  Ristolainen 19:30;  Bogosian 18:40;  Dahlin 17:55;  McCabe 16:39;  Scandella 15:45

EV TOI/Game-Forwards
--October: Eichel 15:17; Skinner 14:03; Reinhart 13:44; Sobotka 13:19; Sheary 12:36
--November: Eichel 15:59; Reinhart 15:17; Skinner 15:01; Pominville 15:58; Sobotka 12:52
--December: Reinhart 16:08; Skinner 15:51; Eichel 15:31; Rodrigues 13:17; Sheary 12:40
--January: Eichel 16:59; Skinner 16:47; Reinhart 16:32; Rodrigues 13:06; Thompson 12:45
--February:  Eichel 16:47;  Skinner 15:01;  Reinhart 14:42;  Rodrigues 13:20;  Sheary 12:57

Goalies (year-to-date)

Carter Hutton
--October: 4-4-1 record; 2.94 goals against; .910 save percentage; 0 shutouts
--November: 12-7-1; 2.63; .917; 0
--December: 13-12-3; 2.63; .917; 0
--January: 15-14-3; 2.79; .911; 0
--February:  16-18-4; .2.84;  .910;  0

Linus Ullmark
--October: 2-0-1; 2.00 GAA; .935 Sv%; 1 shutout
--November: 5-0-2; 2.57; .927; 1
--December: 8-1-3; 2.71; .922; 2
--January: 10-5-3; 2.83; .916; 2 
--February:  13-8-4;  3.03;  .909;  2