It felt like a new era on Thursday night when the Buffalo Sabres hosted the Philadelphia Flyers. General Manager Kevyn Adams was shown the door and his replacement, Jarmo Kekalainen, is expected to make some aggressive moves to get this team over the hump this season.
Wearing the black and red goat head, the Sabres sent a hot crowd home happy. They defeated the Flyers 5-3 and extended their win streak to four games. Let’s get into the most important takeaways from the big Sabres win.
There is Real Talent on This Team
Because of the perception surrounding the team, it can feel like the reason they lose consistently is a lack of talent. The simple fact of the matter is that there is more than enough talent in this group to win right now.
Rasmus Dahlin and Tage Thompson have both been playing inspired hockey. Thompson scored for the fifth game in a row and leads the team with 17 goals and 30 points. Dahlin is third on the team in scoring and leads with 23 assists, including a nifty between-the-legs assist on Thompson’s goal against Philadelphia.
Bowen Byram, Josh Doan, Alex Tuch, Josh Norris, etc. are all talented players in their own right. The Sabres need to stay healthy, something that has become a major issue so far this season. With some good young players just starting to crack the lineup, the Sabres don’t have a shortage of talent.
Turnovers are a Big Problem
You can’t talk about the Buffalo Sabres in a positive manner without talking about something negative. A persistent theme throughout this season has been the Sabres’ inability to stop turning the puck over.
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The Sabres lost the turnover battle handily against the Flyers, 25-9. Turnovers have led to odd man rushes the other way far too often, and the goaltending is not good enough to consistently bail them out of trouble.
If the Sabres are going put together prolonged winning streaks and make a real run at the playoffs, they have to clean up the mistakes and keep the turnovers to a minimum.
The Power Play Has Quietly Been Good
Though the power play went just 1-for-5 on the evening, with Norris scoring a nifty little hezzy-hey goal, it should be noted that the unit has taken a turn. In years past, the power play has been an albatross, hovering in the bottom third of the league on a consistent basis.
This season, the Sabres are tied for 12th in the league, clicking at a rate of 20.2%. The turnaround has been subtle, but the results are there, and it is making a difference for the Sabres this season.
As they continue to return to health, the hope is that the Sabres can keep building momentum with the man-advantage, and creep into the top 10. Can you imagine the Sabres making the playoffs and finishing in the top 10 power play units in the same season?
Are The Tides Turning?
It has been said far too many times, but this feels like a real change in momentum for the Sabres. They have won four in a row, and the dark specter of Kevyn Adams has been lifted from the franchise. There feels like palpable hope for the first time in forever.
They don’t need to win every game because that is obviously not realistic. That said, they need to rebound from losses quickly and put together short winning streaks again. We have seen them win a few, lose a few, and that is the thing from the Adams era that needs to go away most.
