@boosbuzzsabres
Next season the Buffalo Sabres should take a page out of former co-captain Chris Drury's book. Back in the 2005-07 seasons Drury suggested they have the standings posted on the entrance to the dressing room so everyone on the team could see where they stood. Posting something like this during the tank years of 2013-15 as well as last season it might have been counterproductive but during the other seasons it may have added a little emphasis to their drive to respectability and beyond.
The Sabres downward spiral continued last month as they were only able to put together enough to win four games. Their 4-7-2 overall record for February moved them even further from a playoff spot as it dropped them to sixth in the Atlantic Division, 12th in the Eastern Conference and 22nd in the League. Buffalo is eight points out a playoff spot with three teams to jump and we may as well add another point to their deficit as they're well behind when it comes to the first tie-breaker--regulation/overtime wins. The Sabres have 25 ROW while the least number by those presently in a wild card spot is 32.
It's going to take a miracle for them to make the playoffs. Hell, it might take a minor miracle for them to win two games in a row, something they haven't done since December 11-13.
Onward we go riding the final five weeks to the end of a season that happened to turn into a long, ugly one for the Buffalo Sabres. For the third month in a row they only managed to win a meager four wins and has been pointed out here, their post-winning streak record of 12-20-6 and the 30 points from it is on a pace to barely surpass last season's 82-game finish of 62 points, which was dead last in the league .
"And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?"
Look at the numbers.
In yesterday's blog we went over the individual stats and the top players held their own offensively while the team struggled again (still) in the secondary scoring department. However, while the big guns were putting up solid offensive numbers, Jack Eichel, Jeff Skinner, Rasmus Ristolainen and Rasmus Dahlin all had a negative double-digit plus/minus rating and Buffalo's second leading scorer for the month, Sam Reinhart, came in at a minus-7.
Unlike the previous month where the Sabres struggled with the man advantage (one powerplay goal in all of January,) Buffalo got it together in February as their 11 powerplay goals tied them for 5th in the NHL. That helped them increase their overall ranking on the year and keep their goals/game in their three-month range. However, their 5v5 production sputtered as their 24 even strength goals ranked them tied for 28th in the league. Add in four empty net goals against and two shorties and it's not surprising that those five players mentioned above, all whom spend a majority of time in those situations, saw their plus/minus numbers plummet.
Scan the rest of those numbers at your own risk, and try to stay away from the goals-against which is now at 3.13, good for 20th in the league.
Oops. Sorry.
The Sabres close out this week with a back-to-back beginning tonight vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins and tomorrow night at Toronto vs. the Maple Leafs. Anything less than two wins will cause all but the die-hard, rosary-bearing fans to throw in the towel and start looking at the draft.
Buffalo Sabres 2018-19 YTD Team Stats (League Rankings)...(Leader):
Wins
--October: 6 (17th)…(NSH 9)
--November: 17 (T-3rd)…(TBL/TOR 18)
--December: 21 (10th)...(TBL 31)
--January: 25 (T-15th)...(TBL 37)
--February: 29 (21st)...(TBL 49)
--2017-18: 25 (31st)...(TBL 54)
--2016-17: 33 (25th)...(WSH 55)
--2015-16: 35 (23rd)...(WSH 56)
--2014-15: 23 (30th)...(ANA 49)
--2013-14: 21 (30th)...(BOS 54)
Atlantic Division Standing
--October: 5th...(TBL)
--November: T-1st (TBL)
--December: 3rd...(TBL)
--January: 5th...(TBL)
--February: 6th...(TBL)
--2017-18: 8th...(TBL)
--2016-17: 8th...(MTL)
--2015-16: 7th...(FLA)
--2014-15: 8th...(MTL)
--2013-14: 8th...(BOS)
Eastern Conference Standing
--October: 6th...(TBL)
--November: T-1st (TBL)
--December: T-5th...(TBL)
--January: 9th...(TBL)
--February: 12th...(TBL)
--2017-18: 16th...(TBL)
--2016-17: 15th...(WSH)
--2015-16: 14th...(WSH)
--2014-15: 16th...(NYR)
--2013-14: 16th...(BOS)
League standing/Points
--October: 14th/12...(NSH/18)
--November: T-1st/37 (TBL)
--December: T-10th/48 (TBL 64)
--January: 14th/56...(TBL 76)
--February: 22nd/66...(TBL 102)
--2017-18: 31st/62...(NSH/117)
--2016-17: 26th/78...(WSH/118)
--2015-16: 23rd/81...(WSH/120)
--2014-15: 30th/54...(NYR/113)
--2013-15: 30th/52...(BOS/117)
Points Percentage
--October: .583 (15th)…(TBL .773)
--November: .685 (3rd)…(TBL .712)
--December: .600 (9th)...(TBL .800)
--January: .560 (14th)...(TBL .760)
--February: .524 (21st)...(TBL .785)
--2017-18: .378 (31st)...(NSH, .713)
--2016-17: .476 (26th)...(WSH, .720)
--2015-16: .494 (23rd)...(WSH, .732)
--2014-15: .329 (30th)...(NYR, .689)
--2013-14: .317 (30th)...(BOS, .713)
Goal Differential
--October: -4 (22nd)…(COL +14)
--November: +9 (T-8th)…(TOR +26)
--December: 0 (T-16th)...(TBL +51)
--January: -4 (17th)...(TBL 57)
--February: -18 (21st)...(TBL +80)
--2017-18: -81 (31st)...(TBL +60)
--2016-17: -36 (24th)...(WSH +81)
--2015-16: -21 (20th)...(WSH,+59)
--2014-15 -113 (30th)...(NYR +60)
--2013-14: -91 (30th)...(BOS +84)
Goals/Game
--October: 2.58 (26th)…(PIT 4.30)
--November: 3.04 (T-14th)…(COL 3.73)
--December: 2.80 (22nd)...(TBL 4.13)
--January: 2.84 (20th)...(TBL 3.96)
--February: 2.81 (23rd)...(TBL 3.80)
--2017-18: 2.41 (31st)...(TBL 3.54)
--2016-17: 2.43 (24th)...(PIT 3.39)
--2015-16: 2.43 (25th)...(DAL 3.23)
--2014-15: 1.87 (30th)...(TBL 3.16)
--2013-14: 1.83 (30th)...(ANA 3.21)
Shots/Game
--October: 30.3 (24th)…(CAR 41.7)
--November: 31.6 (16th)…(CAR 38.9)
--December: 32.1 (13th)...(CAR 37.2)
--January: 32.3 (11th)...(CAR 35.8)
--February: 32.7 (9th)...(CAR 35.1)
--2017-18: 31.2 (20th)...(FLA 34.4)
--2016-17: 30.4 (15th)...(PIT 33.5)
--2015-16: 29.5 (17th)...(PIT 33.2)
--2014-15: 24.2 (30th)...(CHI 33.9)
--2013-14: 26.3 (30th)...(SJS 34.8)
5v5 Goals
--October: 18 (25th)…(PIT 33)
--November: 54 (9th)…(OTT 63)
--December: 74 (19th)...(TBL 107)
--January: 101 (15th)...(TBL 127)
--February: 123 (19th)...(TOR 160)
--2017-18: 119 (31st)...(TBL 196)
--2016-17: 126 (28th)...(MIN 187)
--2015-16: 121 (28th)...(DAL 167)
--2014-15: 110 (29th)...(TBL 181)
--2013-14: 96 (30th)...(ANA 190)
Powerplay
--October: 20.0% (17th)…(WSH 37.1)
--November: 19.5 (16th)…(COL 31.4)
--December: 19.2 (19th)...(TBL 29.2)
--January: 16.7 (23rd)...(TBL 29.8)
--February: 18.8 (18th)...(TBL 29.3)
--2017-18: 19.1 (20th)...(PIT 26.2)
--2016-17: 24.5 (1st)
--2015-16: 18.9 (12th)...(ANA 23.1)
--2014-15: 13.4 (30th)...(WSH 25.3)
--2013-14: 14.1 (29th)...(PIT 23.4)
Goals-against/Game
--October: 2.92 (15th)…(ARI,1.91)
--November: 2.81 (T-11th)…(BOS 2.40)
--December: 2.85 (11th)...(NSH 2.58)
--January: 2.96 (14th)...(NYI 2.41)
--February: 3.13 (20th)...(NYI 2.30)
--2017-18: 3.39 (29th)...(LAK 2.46)
--2016-17: 2.82 (19th)...(WSH 2.16)
--2015-16: 2.62 (15th)...(ANA 2.29)
--2014-15: 3.28 (29th)...(MTL 2.24)
--2013-14: 2.96 (25th)...(LAK 2.05)
Shots against/Game
--October: 32.2 (19th)…(VGK 24.4)
--November: 33.1 (25th)…(VGK 27.4)
--December: 33.1 (T-25th)...(CAR 27.9)
--January: 32.6 (24th)...(CAR 27.9)
--February: 32.8 (24th)...(CAR 28.0)
--2017-18: 32.7 (23rd)...(CAR 28.9)
--2016-17: 34.3 (30th)...(LAK 25.9)
--2015-16: 30.6 (22nd)...(NSH 27.3)
--2014-15: 35.6 (30th)...(LAK 27.0)
--2013-14: 34.3 (28th)...(NJD 25.5)
Penalty Kill
--October: 78.9% (15th)…(TBL 93.2)
--November: 80.2 (12th)…(ARI 89.5)
--December: 83.8 (5th)...(ARI 87.7)
--January: 81.9 (9th)...(ARI 86.9)
--February: 83.0 (5th)...(ARI 85.9)
--2017-18: 77.9 (22nd)...(LAK 85.0)
--2016-17: 77.6 (25th)...(BOS 85.7
--2015-16: 82.6 (9th)...(ANA 87.2)
--2014-15: 75.1 (30th)...(MIN 86.3)
--2013-14: 81.4 (20th)...(NJD 86.4)
Faceoff Percentage
--October: 49.0 (19th)…(PHI 57.1)
--November: 47.8 (28th)…(PHI 55.6)
--December: 48.0 (25th)...(PHI 55.8)
--January: 48.6 (22nd)...(PHI 56.4)
--February: 48.9 (21st)...(PHI 55.5)
--2017-18: 51.5 (7th)...(CAR 54.1)
--2016-17: 49.6 (17th)...(ANA 54.7)
--2015-16: 49.4 (21st)...(ARI 54.7)
--2014-15: 44.9 (30th)...(BOS 53.6)
--2013-14: 46.8 (29th)...(NSH 53.1)
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