@boosbuzzsabres
With a 16-12-7 record, this edition of the Buffalo Sabres are on pace for about 91 points, which is above where many pundits thought they would be and far above where most Sabres cynics believed they could hope for. How Buffalo got to this point 35 games into the season is somewhat of a surprise as they started out hot, got ice cold and have been trudging and trending upward since he latter part of November. As of now they're second in the Atlantic Division with three games to go before the Christmas break and they're doing it with basically the same team they had last season when they finished 27th in the league. Unfortunately, Buffalo also carried over a glaring issue from last season, most notably an invisible middle-six forward group.
The top line is fine as long as they have Jack Eichel leading the way. To say he's taken his game to another level might be an understatement as the captain may have jumped two notches over the past month. Eichel is riding an impressive 17-game point-streak which is one game shy from tying a franchise record held by Sabres legend Gilbert Perreault. During his streak Eichel has tallied 16 goals and 15 assists and during this run he's not living off of the lone secondary assist to keep it going as he's had four multi-games and nine multi-point games. The last two games he scored the game-tying goal against the NY Islanders with less than two minutes remaining and last night in Toronto he scored to keep the game within reach.
Buffalo is 4-2-2 in December with Eichel's 15 points (8+7) leading the way. Just behind him in scoring is his wingman, 24 yr. old rookie Victor Olofsson, who has 12 points (4+8.) After that there's a drop-off as Eichel's other wingman, Sam Reinhart and checking line center Johan Larsson both have eight points while defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen chimes in with six. But as we go down the stat-sheet, middle-six scoring has all but dried up for the Sabres this month as Marcus Johansson, Jeff Skinner, Jimmy Vesey and Conor Sheary have combined for a grand total of five goals and 13 points in eight December games.| In contrast to that, Larsson's checking linemates, Zemgus Girgensons and Kyle Okposo have scored as many goals as those four combined.
Much to his credit, Buffalo head coach Ralph Krueger has been getting the most he can out of what he's been given and he did a remarkable job of not letting his team's struggles turn in to a death-spiral. Although it looked as if there might be a repeat of the Sabres 2018-19 fall from grace through the first three weeks of November (1-7-1,) Krueger and his charges debunked that theory as they're slowly pulling themselves out of the abyss.
Watching this team, especially Eichel as well as the resurgence of defenseman like Ristolainen and Marco Scandella plus the emergence of fellow D-man Henri Jokiharju, has Sabreland wanting more from this club and believing that they ultimately have more to offer. With a little help from management.
Krueger has his team stabilized and playing consistent hockey (save for a couple of individual periods and those awful 40 minutes last night) to the point where it's not too far-fetched to think that the playoffs are within reach this year. The Sabres are about to finish up a particularly difficult stretch featuring 21 games in 37 days with many of those game against the best, or some of the best teams in hockey. They have three more games before the break and all of them are winnable--at Philadelphia, at home vs. Los Angeles and at Ottawa--and they could very well solidify a top-three spot in the division headed into Christmas.
However, as we've seen the last two games, Eichel and his linemates need some help up-front. The Islanders played a perfect even-strength game against them on Saturday as they throttled the top line and were equal to the task of checking the Larsson line. Although the Sabres managed to get a point with the overtime loss, both of their goals were scored on the powerplay, one by Olofsson, one by Eichel. Last night in Toronto, the Leafs simply outskated and outhustled Buffalo for the first 40 minutes and were it not for some key saves, it could have turned into a blowout. The Sabres finally got on the board with a powerplay goal in the third period (by defenseman Rasmus Dahlin) before allowing another Toronto goal to make the score 4-1. Buffalo then got goals from Eichel and Okposo to make it interesting before they eventually fell 5-3.
In all the Sabres still have some issues on defense and their goaltending has it's moments but they've shown year-over-year improvement which has helped them get to this point. That said, they can't go on like this up-front and expect to be playing meaningful hockey deep into March. Krueger might be able to work some magic with line-shuffling, and he might be able to get more from the Larsson line and/or his defensemen, but they need that middle-six to start contributing and as of now the only way to augment that group at this time is for general manager Jason Botterill to bring in a player (or two) via trade. He knows that, we know that and the players know that as well. Can he or will he do it remains to be seen, but this group led by Krueger has proven worthy of a contribution by their GM.
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