In one fell swoop, Jeff Skinner's goal just over two minutes into the first period at Carolina last night ended his personal goal-drought of 13 games and simultaneously ended Buffalo's three-game goal-drought. The Sabres hadn't lit the lamp since the 7:20 mark of the third period in Chicago on March 7 and were shutout three consecutive games--a total of 199 minutes 58 seconds--before Skinner's goal against his former Hurricanes team.
It was the second consecutive season that Buffalo was shut out three games in a row and as Mike Harrington of the Buffalo news pointed out, the Sabres were the first team since 1929 to have that dubious distinction. How that sits with ownership is yet to be determined but they can't be very happy with that in terms of head coach Phil Housley.
The Sabres are pretty easy to chart these days as most games go like this:
--come out with some energy and put shots on net, sometimes they, score other times they don't
--get on their heels as the opposition amps up the pressure
--fall behind
--ramp up the energy, put some shots on net, sometimes they, score other times they don't
--fall behind enough to where the opposition begins locking things down
--a late third-period push has them bringing intense pressure, sometimes they score, other times they don't
--lose
Buffalo has lost seven in a row, is 1-8-1 in their last 10 games, only 3-12-2 since they put together a three-game point-streak in early February. Since their 10-game winning streak ended in late November the Sabres are 13-26-7 and if they extend their current losing streak (0-6-1) three more games Buffalo will have the dubious distinction of being the first team in NHL history to win 10 games in a row and lose 10 games in a row in the same season.
The losing continued last night and if there's anything positive you can glean from the 4-2 loss, Skinner got off the schneid and Zemgus Girgensons scored his first goal since December 11 a span of 33 games. Girgensons goal vs. the LA Kings helped Buffalo win the first of two consecutive games for the Sabres and was the last time they attained that distinction.
This group of Sabres has mentioned playing for pride and there were some motivating factors headed into the game last night against the Hurricanes. Skinner was playing his former team, which always gets him riled up a bit more than usual and in addition Carolina presently has the longest current playoff drought of any NHL team at nine seasons. Buffalo is second at seven seasons and they'll assuredly make it to eight in a row.
The Hurricanes are holding down the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, four points ahead of the Montreal Canadiens, who are on the outside looking in. Carolina snagged six points out of their three meetings with the Sabres this season. And to add insult to injury, their AHL team, the Charlotte Checkers beat the visiting Rochester Americans in back-to-back games over the weekend to pull six points ahead of them in the overall standings while dropping Rochester to second in the North Division behind the Syracuse Crunch (TBL.) Charlotte defeated the Amerks in a back-to-back in Rochester to open the season.
With a weekend, and an overall season like that, it's a tale of two franchises. The Hurricanes are on the upswing through a slow-build with a new owner sparking his front office into making some bold moves that have helped an on-ice NHL product that's on the verge of breaking out of their long playoff drought.
As for the Sabres, let's just say they have some work to do, like win a game before the season ends.
^^^^^^^^^^
Playing the part of spoiler sucks, it's a role that may not provide enough motivation to lay it all on the line after your season is caput. As we saw against the Hurricanes, playing a team that could leave you with the longest current playoff drought wasn't enough to bring out anything close to a complete game, much less victory, but this evening's matchup with the St. Louis Blues might add a little more incentive.
First off, it will be the first time that former Sabres center Ryan O'Reilly comes to town. O'Reilly was traded for in 2015 and played three seasons in Buffalo, the last of which had him admitting at locker cleanout that he had "lost his love for the game" multiple times during the season. It was a startling admission that most player in that situation think, but don't express.
O'Reilly had a solid campaign in Buffalo with 176 points in 224 games with a minus-40 rating. The former Colorado Avalanche second round pick (33rd-overall, 2009) played his two-way game and displayed his faceoff prowess as the No. 2 center behind Jack Eichel. Buffalo signed him to a 7yr./$52.5 million contract in 2015 by then general manager Tim Murray, who was fired in 2017.
New GM Jason Botterill traded O'Reilly to St. Louis last off season for three players, a conditional first round pick and a second round pick. Two of the players the Blues sent to the Sabres were cap-dumps as St. Louis took on all of O'Reilly's salary. One of them, veteran Patrik Berglund, played 23 games for the Sabres then walked away from the game leaving over $12 million dollars on the table while giving Buffalo cap-relief from his $3.85 million cap-hit. Forward Vladimir Sobotka was the other veteran in the trade and he's mostly been in a bottom-six role for the club and was a healthy scratch last night. Sobotka carries a $3.5 million cap hit for one more season.
One of the futures involved in the trade was that of 21 yr. old forward Tage Thompson. The 6'6" 205 lb. former first round pick of St. Louis (2016, 26th) has been struggling this season with only 12 points (7+5) in 61 games while carrying a -19 plus/minus rating. Thompson hasn't scored a goal in 19 games and has only one assist to his credit during that span. Another future is the 2021 second rounder Buffalo received in the deal.
The conditional 2019 first rounder holds incentive for the Sabres. At the time of the trade if the Blues landed a top-10 pick in this year's draft, they would have the option of deferring the first-rounder to 2020. When Buffalo traded with Anaheim for defenseman Brandon Montour, they sent a conditional first rounder to the Ducks. Anaheim will receive the San Jose Sharks first rounder, acquired by Buffalo in the Evander Kane trade, or the St. Louis first round pick if the Blues pick falls between #20 and #31.
Ideally for Buffalo, St. Louis misses the playoffs, or loses in the first round, and the pick falls somewhere between #11 and #19. In that scenario the Ducks would take the Sharks first rounder and Buffalo would come away with two top-20 picks in the draft this year.
That's why there's a little added incentive to win this game (if there wasn't enough already.) The Blues are third in the Central Division and five points ahead of the Minnesota Wild who are presently on the outside looking in at the playoffs.
In addition to playing against O'Reilly, Thompson and Sobotka playing against their former team, and motivation to help keep the Blues out of the playoffs (along with things like pride and ending a losing streak) goalie Carter Hutton is also playing his former team. Hutton left St. Louis and signed three-year free agent deal with the Sabres last off season. The 33 yr. old netminder took the loss in Buffalo's only other matchup with the Blues this season as he allowed four goals on 32 shots in a 4-1 loss. Perhaps a little redemption is in store for him.
Game time is 5pm on the NHL Network.
Thank God it's St. Paddy's day as we Sabres fans might need a little Irish indulgence whilst watching this one.
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