Published by hockeybuzz.com, 1-30-2019
Sure, the Buffalo Sabres had a rough patch last night in Columbus where the Blue Jackets tied the score on two goals with just over three minutes left in the second period. It certainly was a rough patch and something we've seen with regularity all season. Sometimes you have to give the other team credit for sensing apprehension and jumping all over the opportunities they present. The NHL is a league with plenty of parity and when two similar teams meet, like Buffalo and Columbus, breakdowns are going to happen.
However, what matters most is how a team rebounds from that and the Sabres did just that. Just 2:12 into the third period Connor Sheary pounce on a rebound in the crease to put Buffalo up 5-4 and they held the fort the rest of the way. Once again, there were some tense moments, especially when the Jackets pulled their goalie for the extra attacker, but these are the moments where Buffalo's goaltending needs to shine and Carter Hutton did that for the Sabres. Columbus sent shots his way, none got by, and the Sabres headed to Dallas last night with a win pocket and some wind in their sails.
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Back on the ice at Columbus
The Sabres come off of their long, 10-day break between games with a back-to-back beginning tonight at Columbus against the Blue Jackets. After tonight it's off to Dallas, TX for a bout against the Stars tomorrow night. All three teams will be in their first action since the All-Star break. While Buffalo and Columbus will be shaking off the cobwebs tonight, the Stars will need to do that tomorrow night against a Sabres team that should be close to game-speed.
As for tonight, this game may help set the tone for Buffalo's final 34 games as the Sabres are facing off against a Columbus team that is five points ahead of them in the standings. Although the Blue Jackets are presently third in the Metropolitan Division, the top four teams in that division are only separated by a total of five points and any one of them could drop out of the top-three and into the wild card spot during the stretch run.
Which is where the Pittsburgh Penguins find themselves at this point.
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
"Holy flashbacks, Bettman!" this bad trip keeps recurring
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 1-27-2019
First off, I'm not Canadian and the sanctity of hockey as well it's birthplace, however real or imagined, is not woven into the very fabric of my being from birth. I like hockey, a lot, and as a kid before our almost daily street hockey games we'd start out with sticks high singing the Canadian national anthem. However you won't find me praying on a Sabres hockey rug in the direction of the "Centre of the Hockey Universe" while clutching a copy of Ken Dryden's, The Game. Hockey is an awesome sport that I've followed since I was a kid and I've generally enjoyed the tremendous advances they've made in nearly every aspect of the game.
Yet, I hold these truths to be self-evident, that after decades of trying to make serious in-roads into the American sports fan's consciousness, hockey remains a very Canadian, very regional sport for the most part.
The NHL has done well to slowly build a rock-solid fan-base, which is admirable, and for years, especially the past 25 years under NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, the league has been trying for a bigger footprint on the American sports scene. Mainly he's tried to do it through expansion into non-traditional hockey markets as well as making for a faster, more exciting product through various rule changes, most notably the recent elimination of the red line. And every once and while Bettman would throw some gimmicks into the mix, like the infamous "glowing puck" of the mid-latter 1990's.
First off, I'm not Canadian and the sanctity of hockey as well it's birthplace, however real or imagined, is not woven into the very fabric of my being from birth. I like hockey, a lot, and as a kid before our almost daily street hockey games we'd start out with sticks high singing the Canadian national anthem. However you won't find me praying on a Sabres hockey rug in the direction of the "Centre of the Hockey Universe" while clutching a copy of Ken Dryden's, The Game. Hockey is an awesome sport that I've followed since I was a kid and I've generally enjoyed the tremendous advances they've made in nearly every aspect of the game.
Yet, I hold these truths to be self-evident, that after decades of trying to make serious in-roads into the American sports fan's consciousness, hockey remains a very Canadian, very regional sport for the most part.
The NHL has done well to slowly build a rock-solid fan-base, which is admirable, and for years, especially the past 25 years under NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, the league has been trying for a bigger footprint on the American sports scene. Mainly he's tried to do it through expansion into non-traditional hockey markets as well as making for a faster, more exciting product through various rule changes, most notably the recent elimination of the red line. And every once and while Bettman would throw some gimmicks into the mix, like the infamous "glowing puck" of the mid-latter 1990's.
Sunday, January 27, 2019
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. NHL and NHLPA have a pretty good thing going
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 1-26-2019
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is vociferously booed nearly every time he takes the podium in front of the general hockey public. Perhaps it's a little more tradition now than it was just after the 2004-05 NHL lockout, the first time in the history of pro sports a major league lost an entire season due to labor strife. On behalf of the owners, Bettman locked out the players for 310 days in an effort at "cost-certainty," otherwise known as a salary cap, and when all was said and done the owners prevailed and the owners got their way, the players saw a 24% rollback in salary and the fans were left to simmer in rancor for the entire length of the lockout.
There are a myriad of other reasons that fans have a strong distaste for Bettman. Canadian fans in particular saw him bastardizing their hockey roots by moving franchises (Winnipeg and Quebec) out of "the Birthplace of Hockey" and into U.S. markets and they showed particular displeasure as Bettman focused upon "non-traditional cities" for relocation and expansion. Phoenix, Florida, Atlanta (for the second time,) Nashville and Dallas (where the former Minnesota North Stars moved) were not places that invoked childhood memories of skating on frozen rinks for a game of shinny in the cold of winter.
Some didn't like his demeanor (seen as aloof) and some didn't like his height (or the Napoleonic aura he seemed to project) or that he opted to move on from ESPN post-lockout to "a television leader in action and adventure sports" known OLN, or the Outdoor Life Network for national games (OLN would become Versus and eventually NBC Sports Network.) In fact anything that a fan disliked about the game could be traced back (in their minds) to Bettman.
However, most of the vitriol sent Bettman's way was tied to work stoppages, three of which he presided over.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is vociferously booed nearly every time he takes the podium in front of the general hockey public. Perhaps it's a little more tradition now than it was just after the 2004-05 NHL lockout, the first time in the history of pro sports a major league lost an entire season due to labor strife. On behalf of the owners, Bettman locked out the players for 310 days in an effort at "cost-certainty," otherwise known as a salary cap, and when all was said and done the owners prevailed and the owners got their way, the players saw a 24% rollback in salary and the fans were left to simmer in rancor for the entire length of the lockout.
There are a myriad of other reasons that fans have a strong distaste for Bettman. Canadian fans in particular saw him bastardizing their hockey roots by moving franchises (Winnipeg and Quebec) out of "the Birthplace of Hockey" and into U.S. markets and they showed particular displeasure as Bettman focused upon "non-traditional cities" for relocation and expansion. Phoenix, Florida, Atlanta (for the second time,) Nashville and Dallas (where the former Minnesota North Stars moved) were not places that invoked childhood memories of skating on frozen rinks for a game of shinny in the cold of winter.
Some didn't like his demeanor (seen as aloof) and some didn't like his height (or the Napoleonic aura he seemed to project) or that he opted to move on from ESPN post-lockout to "a television leader in action and adventure sports" known OLN, or the Outdoor Life Network for national games (OLN would become Versus and eventually NBC Sports Network.) In fact anything that a fan disliked about the game could be traced back (in their minds) to Bettman.
However, most of the vitriol sent Bettman's way was tied to work stoppages, three of which he presided over.
Saturday, January 26, 2019
Sabres at the All-Star break--where they are and where they might be headed
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 1-24-2019
At 54 points on the season, the Buffalo Sabres find themselves in the playoff mix and to those who didn't get caught up in the 10-game winning streak or lose their minds as the Sabres went 7-12-4 post streak, this is pretty much where many thought they might be. It's not some Pollyanna Phil-like reach for positivity to point out that the team is by far better than they were last season, and better than the they were in 2016-17 at this point in the season. Consider:
--Last season they finished with 62 points and so far this year the Sabres have 54 on a 24-18-6 record. At this point in the '16-'17 season, Buffalo had 49 points on a 20-19-9 record.
--With 32 games remaining, their 24 wins is one away from last season and nine away from the year before when they had 33 and finished with 78 points. The pace the Sabres are on right now is that of a 41-win season and 92 total points.
At 54 points on the season, the Buffalo Sabres find themselves in the playoff mix and to those who didn't get caught up in the 10-game winning streak or lose their minds as the Sabres went 7-12-4 post streak, this is pretty much where many thought they might be. It's not some Pollyanna Phil-like reach for positivity to point out that the team is by far better than they were last season, and better than the they were in 2016-17 at this point in the season. Consider:
--Last season they finished with 62 points and so far this year the Sabres have 54 on a 24-18-6 record. At this point in the '16-'17 season, Buffalo had 49 points on a 20-19-9 record.
--With 32 games remaining, their 24 wins is one away from last season and nine away from the year before when they had 33 and finished with 78 points. The pace the Sabres are on right now is that of a 41-win season and 92 total points.
Thursday, January 24, 2019
How far have the Sabres progressed 48 games in?
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 1-21-2019
Let's get this right out of the way. In 2017-18, the Buffalo Sabres finished dead last in the league becoming the first team to have 31st next to it's name in the standings. The 62 points Buffalo managed was five less than the 30th place Ottawa Senators while their minus-81 goal differential was 11 worse then the Sens.
Let's get this right out of the way. In 2017-18, the Buffalo Sabres finished dead last in the league becoming the first team to have 31st next to it's name in the standings. The 62 points Buffalo managed was five less than the 30th place Ottawa Senators while their minus-81 goal differential was 11 worse then the Sens.
Although they had some talent, last season was a disaster for the Sabres but with a little luck in the draft lottery it yielded phenom defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, who was said to be the most highly touted d-prospect in decades. The offseason saw a multitude of changes, including the trade of No. 2 center Ryan O'Reilly and the complete overhaul of a goaltending duo that was near the bottom of the league.
The problems Buffalo faced this off season were many, as were the changes and heading into the season and we knew they'd be better overall but weren't sure by how much. In our 2018-19 Sabres preview here we came up with a wide ranging point prediction (from low 70's to low 90's) but figured that they'd be in the upper portion of that range (around 84) with the possibility of moving into the high end and maybe more should the large numbers of "if ______ can do this" scenarios came to fruition.
There were quite a few of those and with the Sabres on a pace to be in that upper portion of that point-range it's time to see how those "if _____ can's" affected the season thus far.
Monday, January 21, 2019
Sabres recap
The Sabres just finished a three-game western Canada road swing that pretty much turned the Corsi-loving faction of the analytics community on it's head. In Buffalo's 4-3 OT win at Calgary, they were outshot 33-23 and sent only 37 shots the Flames' way while seeing 61 shots attempts at them. Their two losses were just the opposite.
The Sabres got smoked in Edmonton 7-2 to kick off the road trip but were sending all kinds of rubber the Oilers way. Buffalo peppered Edmonton's goalie with 43 shots on goal and sent a total of 72 shots their way while the Oilers managed only 23 shots on goal and 37 total shots. In the Sabres final game of the trip in Vancouver, a 4-3 loss, they had 70 total shots and 39 on goal while the Canucks had 40 total shots and only 23 on goal.
And so it goes.
The only number that really matter revolve around the final score and the Sabres came out on the losing end twice. Props to them for a gutty effort in Calgary where they pulled out a win after getting embarrassed in Edmonton and they should also take heart in knowing that they played a strong game in Vancouver but were victims of their own mistakes.
*****
Another number that is important right now is 54 and that's the number of points the Sabres have accumulated this season with 34 games to play.
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