2013 Team Stats--March

The Sabres dropped a 2-0 decision to Boston last night.

During the last week, a "make or break" week before the Wednesday trade deadline, they went 0-2-2. A record like that pretty much seals their fate for the year. That fate being:  Sell, sell, sell.

Going 5-5-5 for the month of March speaks for itself and even though Sabres GM Darcy Regier would twist that into a .500 record, the fact is they ended up on the losing end in 10 of 15 games. "Loser points" moved the team up a notch from 14th to 13th in the conference, but they remain last in the division and their goal differential remains near the bottom of the league (27th) clocking in at a minus-19.

This team has holes all over the place and has shown drastic inconsistencies within games as well as through various stretches of games. Before the four-game winless streak, Buffalo was winners of three in a row. That three game win streak had some thinking the team might make their annual stretch-run push.

Not.

In all the key statistical categories--goal differential, powerplay, penalty kill, and faceoffs--the team is at or near the bottom of the league. Were it not for some stellar goaltending from both Ryan Miller and back-up Jhonas Enroth, they'd be at the bottom of the league in goals-against as well. That tandem has faced the most shots in the league all season, and anyone watching the games would see incredible saves game-in, game-out.

Interim coach Ron Rolston, in his first full month as head honcho, placed his focus upon defense first and the powerplay second. Despite the numbers, the defense has been playing much better as "Keystone Cops" moments have diminished considerably. And the powerplay, although still disjointed, has gotten better even though it dropped a notch to 29th.

After last weeks' four-game winless stretch, there shouldn't be any delusions about a late playoff push.

The Sabres are what their record says they are. They are what their team stats say they are.

A 27th-place team in the NHL.


Wins:

• January--3 (T-13th)
• February--8 (T-23rd)
• March--13 (T-27th)

Points:

• January--7 (T-15th)
• February--17 (T-27th)
• March--32--(26th)

Eastern Conference Standing:

• January--T-9th
• February--14th
• March--13th 

Northeast Division Standing:

• January--5th
• February--5th
• March--5th 

Goal Differential:

• January--T-12th
• February--T-27 (-13)
• March--27th (-19)

Goals/Game:

• January--3.29 (7th)...(#1 TB-4.83)
• February--2.48 (T-22)...(TB--3.55)
• March--2.50 (21st)...(PIT--3.36)

Shots/Game:

• January--31.9 (7th)...(#1 CAR--38)
• February--29.6 (12th)...(CAR--33)
• March--28.5 (18th)...(OTT--32.1)

Goals Against/Game:

• January--3.29 (24th)...(#1 OTT--1.71)
• February--3.19 (27th)...(CHI--1.70)
• March--3.03 (25th)...(OTT--2.06)

Shots Against/Game:

• January--34.3 (30th)...(#1 STL--20.3)
• February--33.9 (30th)...(STL--22.9)
• March--33.1 (30th)...(STL--22.1) 

Powerplay:

• January--24% (11th)...(#1 NYI--37.5)
• February--12.3 (28th)...(ANA--29.3)
• March--13.1 (29th)...(PHI--24.8) 

Penalty Kill:

• January--82.8% (12th)...(#1 CHI--91.3)
• Februrary--80.5 (17th)...(BOS--93.9)
• March--77.0 (28th)...(BOS--90.8) 

Faceoffs:

• January--42.1% (30th)...(#1 BOS--60.1)
• February--45.8 (30th)...(BOS--57.4)
• March--45.5 (29th)...(BOS--57.1)

2013 Team Stats--February

You are what your record says you are.

First, the bad news. The Buffalo Sabres came out of a 5-9-0 month of February with a record of 8-12-1. They plummeted from 9th in the conference to 14th, from 15th in points to 27th and took a dive in goal differential going from T-12th to T-27th at minus13.

Oh, and a little something happened along the way, head coach Lindy Ruff, in his 16th season as the Sabres bench boss was fired and was replaced by interim coach Ron Rolston.

The good news?

Under Rolston, who was bumped up from his gig coaching the Rochester Americans, the Sabres are 2-2.

March will dictate a lot of things like whether or not the team officially bottomed out in their 4-0 home loss to the NY Islanders (landing in the bottom of the eastern conference, 29th in the league,) in Rolston's first home game, his second game behind the bench, and his second loss to start his tenure (it was also the second home game in a row that the Sabres were booed off the ice.) And it will also dictate whether the Sabres are buyers or sellers (or some hybrid again) at the trade deadline.

For now, though, we get to review a pitiful month of February.

Were it not for the torrid pace of Thomas Vanek and solid offensive production from his linemates during the month of January (3-3-1 record,) this Sabres team would be out of the playoffs by now.

February marked a precipitous decline in goals/game dropping from 3.29 down to 2.48 which placed them T-22nd in the league. A big contributor to that decline was a putrid powerplay which scored only three goals for the months, none coming from defensemen. For the year they're at 12.3% on a 9-for-73 conversion rate which places them 28th in the league.

Conversely, the team looks to have stopped the bleeding on defense. It's still poor, but it's a notch up from wretched, which is a positive.

The Sabres have given up the most shots in the NHL (711) and the most shots/game (33.9). Oddly enough, their goals against average has dipped slightly from 3.29 to 3.19, yet their ranking has gone from 24th to 27th.

Their shots against has improved slightly buy they still remain last in the league in that category. To say that goalie Ryan Miller has been under siege all year would be an understatement.

On the positive side under interim coach Rolston, the defense is playing much better. As evidenced in their 2-1 win over goal-scoring machine Tampa Bay (1st in goals/game, #1 in powerplay goals,) they managed to keep most of the shots to the perimeter and shut out the Lightning powerplay including :45 of 5-on-3.

In addition, although defensive-zone turnovers, missed assignments and lack of compete does appear at times, it's nowhere near the levels from earlier in the month and their "Keystone Cops" moments have become less frequent.

"Baby steps," as Rolston put it, "baby steps."

All-in-all, the team is where it is because they are who they are, right now.

Forget the early part of  February, they should take their 2-2 record under Rolston into March as a sign of some very good progress and build upon that moving forward.

Rolston has a ton of things for this team to work on and he started with the back-end, which showed improvement the last two games.

One thinks that he'll start working on the powerplay in earnest as soon as he feels comfortable with his defense. That is a key area for the team moving forward and will greatly impact the goals-for.

That Nathan Gerbe scored two goals for the team in last night's 4-3 SO win over Florida is a big positive. Contributions from others in the secondary scoring department (hello, Drew Stafford) will also be another key.

If they can keep their goals against down, or improve upon it, and get their offense going a little more, they could be a bubble team come month's end due to the parity of the mid-bottom half teams. But it's still a tall task. Even though the Sabres are only four points out of the 8th spot, they have six teams to jump to get there.

Two in a row, especially on the road, is a good start and they'll need to put together a nice streak just to get back into the mix.

For now, we'll just take the more positive approach--under Rolston the team is 2-2 heading into the month of March.





Wins:

• January--3 (T-13th)
• February--8 (T-23rd)

Points:

• January--7 (T-15th)
• February--17 (T-27th)

Eastern Conference Standing:

• January--T-9th
• February--14th

Northeast Division Standing:

• January--5th
• February--5th

Goal Differential:

• January--T-12th
• February--T-27 (-13)

Goals/Game:

• January--3.29 (7th)...(#1 TB-4.83)
• February--2.48 (T-22)...(TB--3.55)

Shots/Game:

• January--31.9 (7th)...(#1 CAR--38)
• February--29.6 (12th)...(CAR--33)

Goals Against/Game:

• January--3.29 (24th)...(#1 OTT--1.71)
• February--3.19 (27th)...(CHI--1.70)

Shots Against/Game:

• January--34.3 (30th)...(#1 STL--20.3)
• February--33.9 (30th)...(STL--22.9)

Powerplay:

• January--24% (11th)...(#1 NYI--37.5)
• February--12.3 (28th)...(ANA--29.3)

Penalty Kill:

• January--82.8% (12th)...(#1 CHI--91.3)
• Februrary--80.5 (17th)...(BOS--93.9)

Faceoffs:

• January--42.1% (30th)...(#1 BOS--60.1)
• February--45.8 (30th)...(BOS--57.4)

2013 Team Stats--January

Two wins to open the season, three losses, and one OT loss.

Heading into Beantown last night the Sabres were at an early season crossroads. Lose and they're way off of the pace. Two points and they're still in the playoff mix.

It's a 48-game season and everyone is playing within the conference. Last year they struggle vs. the Eastern Conference going 28-26-10. Within the Northeast Division they were even worse--6-11-3. If they want any hope of making the playoffs they'll need to kick it in the conference and battle hard within the division.

The four game winless streak put them in a bit of a hole and if they want to continue to climb they'll need to come through in a couple of areas which are interrelated--faceoffs and shots against.

The Sabres are last in the league in both categories and it makes sense, if you can't win the draw the other team has the puck. Having the puck means more shots.

In last week's loss to Carolina, Tyler Ennis won a defensive draw with the game tied and under five minutes remaining in the third period. Unfortunately Andrej Sekera inadvertently iced the puck. Canes' center Eric Staal won the next one, got it back to the point where Jay Harrison found the back of the net for the game-winning goal.

With three centers 23 and under, it's not surprising that their faceoff percentage is low. The key will be to continually increase that percentage and Assistant coach Kevin Adams has some work to do in that department.

Seven games in, the Sabres are skating, shooting and scoring. Unfortunately, their defense is a mess. Coach Lindy Ruff is still trying to find combo's while the individual defensemen are still working themselves into game shape, each with varying degrees of success.

Ryan Miller's been the key to goals-against as he's been pretty solid save for the clunker vs. Toronto on Tuesday. Last night in Boston, he was magnificent and nailed the 3rd-star of the game despite giving up four goals.

As their record states, the Buffalo Sabres are middle-of-the-road, and in most team stats, they're there as well.

We won't get a real good feel as to where they are in relation to the league until next month as everyone will be settling into their rhythm.

For now, though, they should be happy with where they're at. Take away a couple of breaks in each of their first two games--Philly and Toronto--and they'd be in real rough shape.

The playoff push started with the first puck drop. No time for slackers.

Team stats for the month.
Wins:

• January--3 (T-13th)

Points:

• January--7 (T-15th)

Eastern Conference Standing:

• January--T-9th

Northeast Division Standing:

• January--5th

Goal Differential:

• January--T-12th

Goals/Game:

• January--3.29 (7th)...(#1 TB-4.83)

Shots/Game:

• January--31.9 (7th)...(#1 CAR--38)

Goals Against/Game:

• January--3.29 (24th)...(#1 OTT--1.71)

Shots Against/Game:

• January--34.3 (30th)...(#1 STL--20.3)

Powerplay:

• January--24% (11th)...(#1 NYI--37.5)

Penalty Kill:

• January--82.8% (12th)...(#1 CHI--91.3)

Faceoffs:

• January--42.1% (30th)...(#1 BOS--60.1)