@boosbuzzsabres
Yesterday's matinee was a huge challenge for a Buffalo Sabres team that seems to be finding themselves and their stride this season. Buffalo headed to Long Island, NY to face off against what might be the best defensive team in the National Hockey League and dropped a gritty 3-2 overtime decision against an NY Islanders team that is disciplined and hard-working team as it chokes off offense and jumps on opportunity when the opposition makes a mistake. Head coach Barry Trotz has his team playing exceptional hockey especially at home, whether it be Nassau Coliseum where they played the Sabres last night, or at Barclay Center in Brooklyn where they'll end up playing 20 of their home games.
The key to success against the Islanders is getting the lead, something Buffalo failed to do yesterday. Just 5:11 into the game, New York's Michael Del Colle capitalized on an error in judgement by Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark and put the Islanders up 1-0. With a tired group of Buffalo skaters on the ice, Ullmark had an opportunity to cover the puck for a faceoff but decided to keep it in play. His attempted paddle-pass to defenseman Rasmus Dahlin was picked off and in the blink of an eye it was behind him.
The Islanders second goal 4:50 into the second period was a product of outworking the Sabres and restored New York's one-goal lead. Buffalo defenseman Henri Jokiharju lost a battle behind the net and after the puck squirted out, D-partner Marco Scandella's clearing attempt was picked off. The Islanders Brock Nelson fed Jordan Eberle who snuck into the slot past Buffalo's Johan Larsson and snapped one past Ullmark.
Buffalo was able to tie the game twice on powerplay goals by Victor Olofsson and Jack Eichel, who made the game 2-2 with 1:46 left in regulation and Ullmark pulled for the extra attacker. It was the third time this season that the Sabres have scored two powerplay goals in one game and the first since a 5-4 win over the Montreal Canadiens on October 9 (the other was a two games prior in a 7-2 shellacking of the New Jersey Devils.)
The Sabres would need the powerplay in this game as New York stymied them at every turn 5v5. Buffalo has become a two-line team again and the Islanders, like every team who gets the opportunity, matched up their best checking line against the line of Eichel, Olofsson and Sam Reinhart. The line of Larsson, Zemgus Girgensons and Kyle Okposo, who are known more for their forecheck, had been scoring for Buffalo as of late but their stellar play on the wall and in the cycle was subdued by equally effective board play by the Islanders.
As has been the case for well over a year now, ever since second-line center Ryan O'Reilly was traded to the St. Louis Blues, Buffalo's middle-six group of forwards has been rendered ineffective much of the time. Early in the season 40-goal scorer Jeff Skinner developed chemistry with winger-turned-center Marcus Johansson to combine for 10 goals and 15 assists through 10 games while the team went 8-1-1. That output has slowed to a trickle as teams are now throttling Skinner at every turn leaving Johansson to do much of the line's work on his own as Buffalo doesn't have a top-six caliber right winger at the moment.
Buffalo head coach Ralph Krueger has done yeoman's work in getting the most out of many of his players and also has them playing the type of game he wants. After yesterday's 3-2 overtime loss they're still riding a five-game point-streak (3-0-2) which includes tough wins against Edmonton, the defending Stanley Cup Champion Blues and the Nashville Predators. Going into yesterday's game, the Islanders hadn't lost in regulation at home since October 8 (11-0-1,) are 13-2-1 at home on the season and have a rather robust 17-3-1 record against the Eastern Conference, yet the Sabres almost managed to pull off the win despite the Islanders throttling them 5v5.
As we head towards the Christmas break with the Sabres close to finishing off a tough stretch of playing 21 games in 39 days, Krueger and his charges are holding up their end of the bargain, especially Eichel, who extended his point-streak to 16 games yesterday. The 23 yr. old captain has put this team on his back and it's already amazing that he's done so this long but he can't do it all season. With the way the forward group is constructed right now, Eichel might need to if Buffalo wants to snap an NHL-long eight-year playoff drought.
Sabres GM Jason Botterill is rumored to be working hard at acquiring top-six forward help, but nothing has transpired as of yet and it won't be easy. New Jersey winger Taylor Hall is on the market but the 2018 Hart Trophy winner is a pending unrestricted free agent, will probably command a haul in any trade and Botterill more than likely won't, nor should, throw mad assets at the Devils to retain Hall's services for just over half a season. What's out there in the trade market remains to be seen but we do know that Botterill is very methodical in his approach and will try to maximize any move he makes.
Until then, we have four more games until the Christmas break. The Sabres hit the road for games against Toronto on Tuesday and Philadelphia on Thursday before returning home for a game against Los Angeles. They conclude their "21 games to Christmas," as Krueger called this stretch, with a game at Ottawa. The NHL roster freeze for 2019 begins December 19 and ends December 28.
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