Though it may sound critical, this is something we have seen out of the Buffalo Sabres multiple times this season. After beating the St. Louis Blues 4-2, they upped their win streak to three games with the Dallas Stars looming.
Anyone looking for the Sabres to extend their winning streak and save their season should have known better. Instead, they fought for 45 minutes before ultimately dropping a 4-2 decision to a much better Stars team. Here are the takeaways.
The Sabres Can’t Beat Real Teams
There’s a reason the Sabres are linked to a number of teams in trade talks. This season, for all intents and purposes, is done. Whenever the Sabres have faced a real team, they fold when it matters most. The same is true in this Dallas game.
For 45 minutes, the Sabres hung around. They continued to get goaltending when they needed it most, too. But Wyatt Johnston’s ninth of the season with just under nine minutes to go put the nail in the coffin and anyone who has watched the Sabres this season knew it.
Going on winning streaks against bad and mediocre teams is fine and well. But if the Sabres ever want to go back to the playoffs, they need to start beating teams that are considered to be legitimately good. They still can’t do it and they likely aren’t going to do it consistently this season.
Hanging UPL Out to Dry
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was again quite good, stopping 29 of 32 shots on the night. He was a difference-maker all night, keeping the Sabres in the game with big save after big save. And as they usually do, his teammates hung him out to dry and stood around like they had no idea what was going on.
A turnover by Bowen Byram led to a quick shot that Johnston tipped in to give the Stars the lead. Byram has played pretty well this season but the play underscores a major issue that this team has had defensively as a whole. “Another untimely turnover costs Sabres” could be the headline for their season.
Related: Sabres Need to Extend Bowen Byram Before July 1st
The biggest shame about this disaster of a season is that Luukkonen has largely delivered on his new contract. He’s been mostly quite good and just can’t get the help he needs when he needs it most. Getting all facets together and moving in the same direction has been a problem seemingly forever.
This Team Is Miserable in the Faceoff Circle
There have been some constants over the past 13 playoff-less seasons. One of the most glaring is the complete lack of a strong faceoff presence. You would probably have to go back to the days of Steve Ott to find a time when the Sabres were actually good in the faceoff circle.
It may feel like one of those stats that doesn’t make a huge difference, but it does. Sure, it didn’t lead directly to a goal but failing to win draws makes life tougher on everyone. They were an absolutely putrid 26.5% in the faceoff circle against Dallas and that makes a difference in the wrong way.
Of regular faceoff men, only Ryan McLeod and Peyton Krebs are above 50%. Dylan Cozens (47.9%), Jason Zucker (44.4%), and Sam Lafferty (42.9%) offer the kind of faceoff performances we see night in and night out. It’s a smaller problem but one that contributes to the overall struggles of this team.
The Time for Moral Victories Should be Over
Moral victories were fine and well when the team was in the middle of a rebuild and just looking forward to the next draft. Hanging tight with tough teams felt like a step in the right direction because at least they weren’t getting run out of the building by clearly better teams.
Those times are gone. This is a team that should have made the playoffs two seasons ago. Instead, they have regressed back into the depths of failure that the drought has made familiar. The message for this team to get into the playoffs is simple: beat good teams.
