@boosbuzzsabres
It was just over a month ago that the Sabres were riding a 10-game winning streak while the rest of the Eastern conference was murky. The bid dogs like Tampa Bay, Washington and Toronto took their usual places up high in the conference with Buffalo being the surprise team sitting atop the entire league. In the Metropolitan division, the defending Stanley Cup champion Capitals were atop the division but only six points separated them and the sixth place Pittsburgh Penguins.
Fast forward to today and we find that the conference is beginning to shape up like most had predicted. The Lightning caught fire and are comfortably atop the Atlantic division followed by the Maple Leafs with the Sabres clinging to third place. Over in the Metro, Washington is playng King of the Mountain with the Columbus Blue Jackets making some noise and, to really no one's surprise, the Penguins have worked their way up into the top three.
Close behind the Penguins, however, are the NY Islanders a team that's been on a tear lately. The Isles have been hanging around the middle of the division for some time while things worked themselves out and their recent run of six wins in seven games has them just two points behind the Penguins with one game in hand. The Islanders have 44 points on the season and sit just one point out of the second wild card spot behind the Montreal Canadiens. When Buffalo was atop the League, the Islanders were 10 points behind the Sabres and now that margin, thanks to Buffalo's 4-6-4 record since then, is down to four points.
Tonight matchup betweeen Buffalo and the Islanders represents a potential four-point swing in the standings.
Although no one likes to see their team struggle like the Sabres have, it was bound to happen as the adrenaline from the win-streak faded and the holes in Buffalo's lineup became more definitive. Much has been made about the Sabres lack of secondary scoring, as it should when you have a group of mid-six forwards totaling three goals in the month of December. And that includes one empty-netter and a goal by a player who's been moved throughout the bottom-nine.
In Buffalo's five regulation losses this month the team has scored a total of seven goals with only two players not on Buffalo's top line lighting the lamp--defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and checking forward Johan Larsson. In fact, Larsson's three goals for the month equals the output of the entire middle-six as composed yesterday at practice:
Conor Sheary (1) - Casey Mittelstadt (1) - Evan Rodrigues (1)
Tage Thompson (0) - Vladimir Sobotka (0) - Jason Pominville (0)
We'll include Kyle Okposo as well as he's struggling with a 21-game goal-drought and was dropped to the fourth line at practice yesterday.
Checking forward Zemgus Girgensons, who was good for a goal this month, was placed on injured reserve and goalie Scott Wedgewood was returned to Rochester creating an opening that was filled by Amerks winger C.J. Smith.
Smith has continued to progress well after inking a free agent deal with the Sabres in 2017. He was third on the team in scoring last season with 44 points (17+27) in 57 games and is on pace to best those highs with 13 goals and 16 assists in 33 games this season. The cool part about Smith is that you know what you're going to get from him on a nightly basis. He's got a high hockey IQ, has a nose for the net and can find those open spaces on the ice and Amerks bench boss Chris Taylor uses him in all situations. Although his 5'11 181 lb. frame is a tad small for the NHL, he seems to play bigger and he's a very good skater. As of late Smith has really kicked it in with 10 points (6+4) in his last eight games.
According to media tweets, Sabres head coach Phil Housley said Smith will play tonight with the line being determined at the pre-game skate. Methinks a college line of Mittelstadt being flanked by Smith and Rodrigues would be intriguing as all three are young and pretty good skaters.
Game time is at 6 pm tonight.
Interesting notes plucked from Sabres PR:
--Ten of Buffalo’s last 12 home games against the Islanders have been decided by a single goal, including five overtime games.
--The Sabres are 6-9-2 this season when trailing after two periods. Their six wins when trailing after 40 minutes ties for second-most in the league and their .353 win percentage in those games ranks second. Buffalo’s six wins when trailing after two have already surpassed last season’s total and leave the team three third-period comebacks shy of the franchise record of nine set in the 2005-06 season.
--On this day in 1987, the Sabres traded former first round pick Paul Cyr (1982, 9th-overall,) who was pick three spots after Housley, plus a 10th round pick (yes, the draft lasted that long) in 1988 to the NY Rangers in exchange for Mike Donnelly and a 1988 fifth round pick that would turn into Alexander Mogilny.
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