The Buffalo Sabres lost their third straight game, this time to the Vegas Golden Knights, 3-1. This game drops them to a 14-21-5 record (3-6-1 in the last 10 games) and keeps them alone at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Once again, it felt like, at times, the Sabres got overwhelmed by Vegas’ pressure which caused the Sabres’ puck carriers to make mistakes.
The Sabres went from winning three straight games to immediately losing those three games. We’ll talk about that more later in the recap as the Sabres’ inconsistencies of the season continue on this West Coast trip. Things are not going to get easier from here as they host the Washington Capitals back home on Monday night. Anyways, let’s hop right into my three takeaways from the Sabres’ loss to the Golden Knights.
Jack Eichel vs Former Team
Of course, this is the top headline going into every game between the Sabres and Golden Knights. Jack Eichel is now 2-2 vs the Sabres since being traded and in this game, he had a goal and an assist to help contribute to Vegas’ win. Vegas dominated for parts of the game and held high pressure in the offensive zone thanks in large part to Eichel. He is now sitting at 56 points in 39 games played which puts him in the top five for NHL point-scoring. He is on pace for 117 points, which would absolutely smash his career high, previously set during the 2018-19 season when he recorded 82 points in 77 games played.
Sabres’ Poor Defensive Play Continues
The team’s defense failed to execute time and time again during the game. Sabres goaltender James Reimer kept the game from being a blowout and made key high-danger saves multiple times throughout. Each of Vegas’ goals consisted of a missed assignment by a Sabre player.
On the first goal, Vegas shot the puck on the net from the point and there was Tanner Laczynski to score. He beat a Sabre defender to the rebound off of Reimer and banged the puck home on a wide-open net. Multiple odd-man rushes, in particular, 2-on-1 odd-man rushes, cost Buffalo.
Related: Frank Seravalli Suggests a Bold Way to Fix Sabres
It’s becoming a re-occurring theme that the Sabres’ goaltenders are being held out to dry half the time. Whether it’s Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen or Reimer does not matter. The Sabres just played game number 40 of the season and are still making the same mistakes and are still seeing the same results. So, what really is the issue in Buffalo?
Sabres’ Power Play Stays Hot
If there is one positive to find from the game, it is their power play. It’s struggled from time to time this season; however, it’s been hot as of late. Heading into the game, the Sabres were six for their last 12 on the man advantage. It continued, as they had one goal off of three attempts. Who else to score the goal than Jason Zucker, who stays red-hot, recording six goals in his last four games, and now is up to 15 goals on the season?
The goal came with under three minutes to play, so a little bit of a garbage time goal, but nonetheless, a goal is a goal, and it kept the Sabres from getting shut out. Zucker currently leads the Sabres in power-play goals (eight) and power-play points (14). This third takeaway is really more of an appreciation post for Zucker.
Sabres’ Inconsistencies Continue
To end things off here, the Sabres are back to how they started the season. Win three, then go ahead and lose three games in a row right after that. It’s a never-ending cycle. Except now, we’re seeing a more flawed team than we did earlier in the season, which is a cause for concern considering how much talent the team has on paper. The inconsistencies include all phases of the game. The offense can’t seem to get going on a nightly basis (this includes the power play), and the goaltending has been inconsistent at times this season. So, all around, the Sabres have a lot of things to learn from and clean up as they look forward to being back home on Monday night against Washington.
