Hopes were high, and the energy was even higher on opening night at Keybank Center in Buffalo, NY. The Buffalo Sabres took the ice, and the fans were eager to see their hockey team for the first time in the regular season after a long and interesting offseason. The team looked hyped up, and their social media all had them sounding excited and ready for the season to get going, and for the majority of the game, it looked that way.
They put in the work, played hard, and ultimately got slapped by the New York Rangers 4-0, laying an egg in their home opener, and deflating a lot of the building. All the things there were to like about the game got overshadowed by the bad few things that buried them in the long run. If they want to bounce back quickly, these are the adjustments they need to make.
Sabres’ Power Play Is Still Powerless
Unfortunately, it is a different season, but the same story for the Sabres’ power play. Assistant coach Seth Appert is still running the most predictable scheme on the planet, and it not only isn’t producing any results, but it looks worse than last season. The Sabres went 0-for-4 on their power play against the Rangers during their home opener, and it was like bashing their heads against the wall trying to make the same play happen; no variety whatsoever from the top unit. The entire play was to have Rasmus Dahlin at the top, move the puck back and forth between him and Josh Norris on the right side circle, then once it went back to Dahlin, he would feed it to Tage Thompson on the left circle for a one-timer, and he would either blast it a mile wide and down the ice (because nobody was covering the far side boards as usual), or right into the goalie’s chest.
There is no creativity or ingenuity on the power play, and I have said it multiple times that they simply need to diversify their shot choices, and where the puck gets shot from, and it will pay off more. Not every chance needs to come from Thompson on the left side circle, and it is infuriating to watch them try it 10 times per game while almost nothing else ever happens. Dahlin needs to shoot the puck more and generate rebounds. Alex Tuch needs to go to the net and fight for those rebounds. Norris should be shooting more from the right circle. They have so many weapons to use, and they insist on using just Thompson. It is predictable, and it will be their downfall once again if they do not adjust it quickly.
The Second and Third Lines Need Adjusting
The worst line of the night was easily that of Jack Quinn, Alex Tuch, and Jiri Kulich. Quinn spent most of the game waving his stick at the puck and skating around. Kulich was almost completely invisible, and Tuch was doing nothing to help either of them. If Quinn in particular remains looking like he did, he is going to be in for a quick ticket out of Buffalo. Nevertheless, the trio as a whole had no chemistry together, and if they don’t work it out to find some quickly, they need to get split up and moved around with the third line of Ryan McLeod, Jason Zucker, and Josh Doan. The third liners all played great, and would definitely provide a boost to the team with some more ice time, so moving them around to have things fit would be a solid idea.
McLeod has shown repeatedly that he is a capable center and can handle big minutes, so giving him the extra ice time as the second line center would be ideal. Give him Tuch and Doan as his wingers to have an entire line of speedy, aggressive, pressure-driven players that all want the puck and can do something with it when they have it. It is a small adjustment, but it would make a nice difference. It would leave Quinn, Kulich, and Zucker with some reduced ice time, but it would benefit everyone in the long run. Zucker can use his mentoring skills on Quinn and Kulich to get them into the game better, and the two young forwards may have a better shot at producing with a reliable forward like him constantly on the ice with them and in their ears.
Let the First Game Go
At the end of the day, it is only one game. Yes, they were embarrassed on home ice in a game where they really needed to come out firing and get the fans on their side to believe in them during a pivotal season, but one game does not define the season. It is how they react and come back from these defeats that really matter. The trend of this team in recent years has been a monumental collapse when things start to get hard or tricky (sometimes due to injuries). They need to show that they can let this one go, learn their lessons from it, and be better to put together a good stretch of wins after losing a tough game.
Related: Rangers Shut Out Sabres 4-0
It is not always about how many games the Sabres win, but rather how they respond to losing. They need to keep their heads above the sand and just dig deeper. There is still a lot of hockey to be played, and a lot of time to accomplish what they want to do. The key is focus, and keeping that determination that they were showing in the offseason and preseason. The pieces are right there, but with some of them injured right now, they just have to fight through. Every team deals with tough injuries, and they will be no exception. Take the lumps, pivot, and go win some games.
