Though the Buffalo Sabres lost their last time out, things are starting to somewhat look up. After all, they beat the Ottawa Senators 8-4 and shutout the defending Stanley Cup champions in the previous two games. Could they find that momentum again with the red-hot Detroit Red Wings in town?
Though the Red Wings got on the board first, it would be the Sabres who had the last laugh. There are a couple of important takeaways from this one, so lets dive into the Sabres 4-2 victory over the first-place Red Wings.
Is This the Jack Quinn Breakout Season?
Going into the 2024-25 season, everyone and their mother felt like Jack Quinn was on the verge of a breakout season. Unfortunately for everyone involved, he was a complete ghost for the first third of the season and only really showed life down the stretch.
Perhaps it just took him that long to fully recover from the Achilles injury that prematurely ended his 2023-24 season. So far this season, he has looked more than lively – he has looked downright good.
Against the Red Wings, Quinn was showing the high skill level and creativity that made him such an enticing player. He contributed on a pair of nifty assists and unleashed a vicious one-timer from the point to give him a three-point night. Is he finally starting to live up to the hype we all bought into?
Goaltending Continues to be Excellent
The Sabres’s goaltending situation has been interesting this season. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has been out with an injury, so Alex Lyon has been left to hold down the fort. He’s only been one of the best goaltenders in the league so far. Now, Colten Ellis was tasked with taking on the hottest team in the Eastern Conference in his first career start.
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All Ellis did was stop 27 of 29 Red Wings shots, including stuffing a breakaway, to give the Sabres the win. Despite those major questions, the Sabres have received far better goaltending than they could have ever hoped for.
Can they maintain this performance? How far off is Luukkonen from making his season debut? What has been a problem area for several seasons looks to be a strength for the time being. If the Sabres can continue to get strong performances in goal, it could be the key to their continued momentum.
Net-Front Defense Continues to be Bad
There is one area that continues to frustrate, and it is the lack of net-front defense. Against the Red Wings, both goals came because of lapses in front. The first goal of the game came when Rasmus Dahlin took J.T. Compher to the net, only to disengage and leave him all alone in front for the goal.
On Detroit’s second goal, which made it a 2-2 game, Emmitt Finnie drove between three defenders unscathed to put one past Ellis. At no point was he touched and there was nothing that Ellis could really do about it.
Net-front defense continues to be a major issue for the Sabres. The hope is that Michael Kesselring’s return can help somewhat mitigate that issue, but it’s a systematic thing at this point. They need to make it tougher for opposing forwards to be in front of the net, something they aren’t even close to doing.
Sabres Gaining Steam
All things considered, it’s hard to really be mad at what the Sabres are doing. They’ve won three of their last four games and beat some good teams along the way (Florida and Detroit). Even more impressively, they’ve done it with very limited contributions from Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch.
The Sabres have an excellent test coming up. They will have a home-and-home series with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday and Saturday. If they can split with a team that has been better than them for the better part of the last decade, it would be a nice change and help them keep some momentum.
