The West Coast road trip did not go well for the Buffalo Sabres. Ending with a 3-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, the Sabres returned home after dropping three of the four games on the trip. With the next four and six of the next seven on home ice, the Sabres were happy to get off the road.
They began the homestand with a bang, to say the least. Hosting their bitter rivals the Boston Bruins, the Sabres put a whooping on their downtrodden foe, lighting them up to the tune of 7-2. Here are the three biggest takeaways from a rare butt-whooping delivered by the Sabres.
Jekyll and Hyde Offense
The Sabres’ offense is a bit frustrating at times. They go in streaks, pumping in a few goals in a short span before they go totally dormant and stop trying to create dangerous chances. And when they have a lead, forget about scoring entirely.
Last night’s offensive explosion – with hat tricks from both Tage Thompson and J.J. Peterka – feels like a microcosm of the season. When they are at their best, this offense can go toe to toe with anyone. The problem is that they are rarely at their best.
Thompson is on a 45-goal, 80-point pace. The Sabres have five players with 35 points or more. They are 11th in goals for per game on the season, which is crazy if you watch them every night. The talent is there but consistency is yet again the issue.
Changing the Narrative (For Last Night, at Least)
As a whole, the team is infinitely frustrating and inconsistent. Nothing proves that more than the fact that the Sabres are the second-best team in the NHL in terms of first-period goal differential, yet the second-worst in both the second and third periods.
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They have a star in Jiri Kulich, though the team’s history of prospect development isn’t promising. It will soon be time to check out prospects rather than hang on to the few strands remaining of playoff hope.
If nothing else, it was nice to flip the aforementioned narrative on its head. The Sabres, rather than collapsing and wetting themselves, turned it up as the game went on and saved their best for the final frame. If only this was something they could do with anything resembling consistency.
A Total Effort
There’s a cliché in hockey about playing 60 minutes. The thing is, it’s not really a cliché if it’s true. And the Sabres have proven time and time again this season that you have to play for the full 60 minutes if you want to win.
This was one of those rare occasions where they actually did just that. It might not have been ideal to fall behind in the first, but Thompson answered less than a minute later, then he and Peterka gave the Sabres the lead for good in the second.
Rather than sit back and cling to that lead as they otherwise would have, they piled it on early in the third. That’s what good teams do. They don’t feel content with a little bit of a lead. Instead, they find a way to bury their opponents before they have a chance to get up.
Build Momentum for Next Season
Even if a reported trade for Vancouver Canucks star Elias Pettersson comes to be, the Sabres are playing for momentum. They still have a lot of talent throughout the lineup and as ugly as the offseason will be, the cupboard isn’t bare.
The goal for now shouldn’t be draft position; the Sabres have enough picks and prospects. It should be to find a team identity to build on and carry into next season. It’s a shame that the streak will reach 14 seasons, but the Sabres can do something rather than mire in mediocrity until the start of the 2025-26 season.
