Sabres looking for a 10-win October

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 10-28-2019


The longest winning streak in Buffalo Sabres franchise history came in the month October as that 2006-07 team won their first 10 games of the season. That record was matched last season as the team won 10 in a row in November. What followed those two streaks couldn't be more extreme. The '06/'07 Sabres went on to win the President's Trophy for most points in the NHL that year while the '18/19 Sabres missed the playoffs and finished 27th in the league.

With a win tonight Buffalo will become the first team to 10 wins this season and they would also tie that '06/'07 Sabres team for most points in October, albeit having played two more games. They're also off to a 5-0-0 start at home which is the first time a Buffalo team has done that since 1984-85 and a with win tonight they will tie a franchise record set in 1975-76 for best start at home.




All of those numbers are great and make for a feel good story to start the season, especially with a new head coach in Ralph Krueger who hasn't coached in the NHL since 2013. Krueger left his position as director of the Southampton football club in England to get back into coaching hockey and he has this team playing to the best of their abilities both individually and as a group. However, no one is sure just how sustainable this tremendous start is.

One thing we do know, however, is that this is a much different team than last season. Krueger has his team playing on their toes and has stressed creativity within the loose framework of his systems. It's worked quite well for his forwards and with the help of the NHL's fourth-best powerplay, the Sabres have league's eighth best offense scoring 3.42 goals/game are one of only two team (WSH) to have four players score five or more goals so far this season. Captain Jack Eichel is tied for seventh in the league at 1.33 points/game while 24 yr. old rookie Victor Olofsson is second in the league with six powerplay goals.

Unlike his predecessor, Krueger isn't married to the idea that certain lines need to be used in a particular zone almost exclusively. For example, last season the defensive duo of Zemgus Girgensons and Johan Larsson had the fewest offensive-zone starts in the NHL at 11.88% and 12.33%, respectively, according to Naturalstattrick.com. This year Larsson is 66th in the with 25.68% o-zone starts while Girgensons is 90th at 28.77%. Conversely, Casey Mittelstadt's 84.03% offensive-zone starts led the team last year while Jeff Skinner was second at 81.27%. Mittelstadt still leads the team but with a 77.27% while Skinner is ninth at 70%.

While each line is set up, and is played, to do the things they do best, Krueger has stressed the importance every line has to his team going as far to say that his lines aren't numbered. It's a great way to make every player and line know just how important they are to the whole and it's given him the ability to roll a fresh line at almost any point of the game and in almost any situation.

"With our schedule this year it's critical that we can roll four lines in phases of games," said Krueger to the gathered media yesterday after practice. "I obviously don't put as much value in zone starts as a lot of coaches do in the league, maybe, or analytics would tell you, it's more for me about keeping the rhythm and the pace in all of the lines and making sure nobody goes to sleep on the bench with too many minutes between shifts.

"We're extremely comfortable with o-zone, or especially d-zone starts, with all four lines right now."

Krueger was also quick to point out that it was a compliment to the Mittelstadt line in that respect.

Things have gone extremely well so far for the club. Whether it's sustainable is another story but there's an excitement pulsating through Sabreland right now. After the game tonight against the Arizona Coyotes, whom they're 6-2-2 against in their last 10 at home, the Sabres won't play again until Friday, the first of a back-to-back. Then it's off to Sweden for their two-game Global Series matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

While everyone is expecting a drop-off, and it will come, the question is how far of a drop will it be and if they can sustain their play enough to end the NHL's longest current playoff drought at eight seasons.