You couldn't have ended 2019 on a worse note. The Buffalo Sabres rang out the old with a very disappointing loss to the surging Tampa Bay Lighting by the score of 6-4. Tampa scored an empty-netter for the final which capped off a five goal run that erased a 4-1 Buffalo lead.
The set-up to the Tampa game had some weird circumstances as the Sabres didn't forget what Nikita Kucherov and Eric Cernak did to their players in previous meetings. While over in Stockholm, Sweden for the 2019 Global Series, Kucherov submarined an unsuspecting Vladimir Sobotka and sent him to injured reserve. He probably won't be back this season. Just over two weeks later, a high elbow from Cernak connected with Rasmus Dahlin's head resulting in a concussion for the 19 yr. old defenseman. Neither hit was penalize and neither was taken care of on the ice by the Sabres. The Kucherov hit wasn't looked at by the NHL Department of Player Safety while Cernak received a two-game suspension for an illegal hit to the head on Dahlin.
Showing posts with label 2019-20 five-game recap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2019-20 five-game recap. Show all posts
Monday, January 13, 2020
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Injuries mounting up-front for Buffalo plus the five-game recap
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-19-2019
On the heels of another injury to yet another Sabres forward, Buffalo bench boss Ralph Krueger was pretty matter of fact yesterday while talking about what's happening up-front. "It was a really long stretch with the same forward lines, and there was some good synergy there," he said to the media at yesterday's practice. "The process seemed to be quite automatic, especially the way we want to be connected on the ice. Losing a forward a game now for five games in a row has been quite disruptive."
The latest casualty was winger Tage Thompson, who suffered what looked to be a shoulder injury in the 4-1 loss at the Chicago Blackhawks. Thompson joined Vladimir Sobotka, Marcus Johansson, Johan Larsson, and Kyle Okposo in the ranks of injured forwards and is expected to be out 3-5 weeks. Sobotka's looks to be out some 3-5 weeks more weeks recovering from his lower body injury and Okposo is out indefinitely with a concussion. Johansson and Larsson are listed as day-to-day, but won't play tonight against the Minnesota Wild.
On the heels of another injury to yet another Sabres forward, Buffalo bench boss Ralph Krueger was pretty matter of fact yesterday while talking about what's happening up-front. "It was a really long stretch with the same forward lines, and there was some good synergy there," he said to the media at yesterday's practice. "The process seemed to be quite automatic, especially the way we want to be connected on the ice. Losing a forward a game now for five games in a row has been quite disruptive."
The latest casualty was winger Tage Thompson, who suffered what looked to be a shoulder injury in the 4-1 loss at the Chicago Blackhawks. Thompson joined Vladimir Sobotka, Marcus Johansson, Johan Larsson, and Kyle Okposo in the ranks of injured forwards and is expected to be out 3-5 weeks. Sobotka's looks to be out some 3-5 weeks more weeks recovering from his lower body injury and Okposo is out indefinitely with a concussion. Johansson and Larsson are listed as day-to-day, but won't play tonight against the Minnesota Wild.
Monday, November 4, 2019
Sabres five-game recap
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-3-2019
You don’t need a lot of analytics to figure out that the Sabres hot start has cooled to the point where it looks like they’re struggling. Something as simple as their record is a good place to start. Buffalo began the season going 4-0-1 then went 4-1-0 which included a three-game California road trip. However this last stretch of five games hasn't been too kind to the Sabres as they could only manage a 1-3-1 record.
Quality of competition might be a big factor as the first five teams they face had a combined 44% win percentage through their first five games, the second grouping was at 42.5% through their first 10 games while the last grouping of teams Buffalo has played clocks in at a 56.7 win-percentage, and that includes the top team in the NHL, the Washington Capitals and the second best team in the Metropolitan Division, the NY Islanders, who are a combined 20-5-3 on the season.
Friday, October 25, 2019
Buffalo beats San Jose 4-3 in OT plus your five-game Sabres recap
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 10-23-2019
We're not sure if you can ask for a much better start to the Sabres season. After their 4-3 overtime win last night, the Buffalo is now 8-1-1 and though it's not the 10-game winning streak from last year, early indications are that this is not the same team as last year's either. This edition of the Sabres looks like they have many of the pieces in place to make this more sustainable, not 120-point sustainable, but at least playoff contender-worthy right now.
With last night's win over the San Jose Sharks, Buffalo is still undefeated at home, although three of the five wins came in the extra session and in two of them they blew two-goal leads. Against San Jose they actually came back from a 2-0 deficit and played their game to a 3-2 lead before surrendering the game-tying goal past the half-way point of the third period. They never wavered in this one and finished the Sharks off in overtime.
We're not sure if you can ask for a much better start to the Sabres season. After their 4-3 overtime win last night, the Buffalo is now 8-1-1 and though it's not the 10-game winning streak from last year, early indications are that this is not the same team as last year's either. This edition of the Sabres looks like they have many of the pieces in place to make this more sustainable, not 120-point sustainable, but at least playoff contender-worthy right now.
With last night's win over the San Jose Sharks, Buffalo is still undefeated at home, although three of the five wins came in the extra session and in two of them they blew two-goal leads. Against San Jose they actually came back from a 2-0 deficit and played their game to a 3-2 lead before surrendering the game-tying goal past the half-way point of the third period. They never wavered in this one and finished the Sharks off in overtime.
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Dallas visits Buffalo for a matinee today, plus a five-game Sabres recap
The Buffalo Sabers have a 3 p.m. matinee game against the Dallas Stars at KeyBank Center today. It will be the final game of a three-game homestand before they head out west for three games in four nights against the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks. The Sabres just finished a stretch where they played five games in nine nights and are coming off of a full day away from the rink with head coach Ralph Krueger saying that his charges should look refreshed for the game against the Stars.
Krueger spoke to the gathered media after practice yesterday and said, "Today (at practice) you're trying to get the intensity and focus you need to play our hockey and they gave it to us in practice. But that freshness and the energy we'll have we expect to show up against Dallas."
Buffalo is off to a 4-0-1 start under their new head coach who's working a lineup that's very similar to what was iced last season. Three new faces were added up-front--Victor Olofsson, Marcus Johansson and Jimmy Vesey while the back-end has welcomed Colin Miller and Henri Jokiharju who were acquired in separate trades. The goaltending duo of Carter Hutton and Linus Ullmark are once again patrolling the crease.
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