@boosbuzzsabres
The losing streak is over
Buffalo's shootout win over the St. Louis Blues yesterday ended a 0-6-1 losing streak. With the win, the Sabres may have averted NHL ignominy as they were on track to be the first team in the history of the league to have both a 10-game winning streak and a 10-game losing streak in the same season. Although they still have 10 games to play, if they put an effort like they did against the Blues, the odds of them losing their final 10 games are long.
Of course...
Despite saving themselves from the NHL-first mentioned above, this Buffalo team was the first team since 1929 to get shut out three games in a row in two consecutive seasons and they will be the second team in NHL history to have a 10-game winning streak and miss the playoffs. The Philadelphia Flyers were the first team to do so back in the 2016-17 season. Philadelphia took a 9-10-3 a record into late November then proceeded to reel off 10 in a row. From thence their fall was marked by wild swings with winning streaks of four and three games, along with a three-game point-streak balanced by a five-game losing streak and three, three-game losing streaks. This edition of the Sabres had no such bi-polar streaks as they haven't won two in row since Dec. 11. Buffalo had managed to throw in a win to break up losses and totaled three, three-game losing streaks prior to the seven-gamer they just ended.
What does this say for head coach Phil Housley?
If Housley's team could have played the way they played last night through the better part of those post winning-streak doldrums, this conversation wouldn't even have come up as they'd probably be pretty close to the playoff bubble. This group of Sabres seemed to lose interest on many occasions and couldn't overcome negative puck-luck when they really needed to. There are many calling for Housley's head with some, like this blogger, who thought pulling the plug on the Housley-era should have been done during the losing streak. Then again, who knows what owners Terry and Kim Pegula along with GM Jason Botterill are thinking. Regardless of a difficult transition between the on-ice philosophy of Botterill and his predecessor and despite Housley getting shorted on the personnel he's had to work with, the above embarrassments don't bode well for the second year coach.
High-end coaches on the market
The Sabres could do better behind the bench than Housley's first foray into a head coaching position. Three-time Stanley Cup champion Joel Quenneville is out there and so is Alain Vigneault, a former Jack Adams winner for Coach of the Year in 2006-07 who took both the Vancouver Canucks (2011) and NY Rangers (2014) to the Stanley Cup Finals. Also not to be dismissed is Swedish National coach Rickard Grönborg who is finishing up his contract and whom was said to have been contacted by the Sabres last Spring. He is said to be available after the IIHF World Championships conclude in late May.
On Grönborg and the Sabres
Quenneville and Vigneault represent names we're all aware of and both have tasted NHL success on various levels with the former leading the Chicago Blackhawks to their three Cups. The 50 yr. old Grönborg has had a ton of success in his native Sweden and coaches a style that is prevalent in the NHL right now. But he's relatively unknown to us here in North America. With Buffalo loading up on Swedes lately, including young defensive phenom Rasmus Dahlin, and wanting to play that up-tempo Euro-style, Grönborg seems like a natural fit. However, respect for the head coach seems to be a big factor these days, especially in Buffalo where they could end up going through their second head coach--including a Cup-winner--in four seasons. Possibly because of the timing of their hires, neither Dan Bylsma nor Housley seem to have been the right choices for the situation the team was in, especially Housley, who was never a NHL head coach before. Both seemed to have lost the respect of the players mid-way through their second season. Despite the respect he has abroad, Grönborg would still be a rookie coach in the NHL and that would be a bold move by the Sabres or any other NHL team, especially since there hasn't been a Euro coach in the league since 2001 when Alpo Suhonen coached the Chicago Blackhawks and Ivan Hlinka coached the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Lines and pairings
Housley had been adamant about changing things up after a loss and it could be one of the reasons why his team has won only 14 of 45 games since December. An over-reliance on vets is also an area of concern which may have had a hand in Buffalo having the second-worst record in the league (OTT) since then. Save for the Jack Eichel/Jeff Skinner pairing on the top line, if a trio or pairing had a bad outing in a loss, Housley changed things up. It never made sense. Coaches do that all the time but Housley seemed to take it to an extreme. However, the Sabres have some lines, or partial lines, and d-pairs going as evidenced by last night's game. Evan Rodrigues centering Conor Sheary on the left and rookie Alexander Nylander on the right had a stellar night with two goals, two assists and a plus-3 rating. On the back end Dahlin and Brandon Montour looked like they'd been playing together of years while right-handers Rasmus Ristolainen and Zach Bogosian looked extremely comfortable as a pairing. Add in the Eichel-line and the Sabres have some pretty solid lines and pairings moving forward. Of course if they lose to Toronto on Wednesday it might change, bur for now it looks promising.
Nylander gaining confidence
Raise your hand if you had pretty much given up on Alexander Nylander a month ago. Yup, there's a hand in the air here, but the 21 yr. old rookie seems to be coming to life. Nylander had struggled in the AHL ever since he turned pro at the age of 18. Credit to the Sabres in that they never made it easy on the 2016 eighth-overall pick as he's had to work for everything he's gotten. Although the overall numbers aren't stellar--86 points (30+56) in 165 AHL games--Nylander got hot at the right time in Rochester and rode that confidence into Buffalo and last night he chalked up two primary assists. On the first one he held his position along the wall at the Sabres blueline and sent a pass to Rodrigues on the breakout. Rodrigues took the puck into the St. Louis zone and scored. On the second one Dahlin worked some magic in his own zone and hit Nylander on the breakout. Nylander streaked in on a 2-on-1 and hit Sheary with a sharp, tape-to-tape, cross-ice pass after drawing the attention of the Blues. Some very nice work from the kid. When it comes to player development, Nylander will be a litmus test just because of the struggles he's had through the course of his pro career thus far and if he can continue to do what he did yesterday, things are looking up for the organization.
Ryan O'Reilly post-game, the usual "it begins with me, I've got to be better" plus a little shade
Yeah, we know the score with O'Reilly. He was here, the team didn't do well and he said that he'd lost his desire to play hockey at times last season. Botterill shipped O'Reilly to St. Louis in what's looking like a lop-sided trade in the Blues favor at this point. After the game last night, O'Reilly put on his usual pensive persona after a loss and, of course, he said "it starts with myself being better." As someone who's obviously aware of where his former team is in the standings he couldn't help but throw a little shade their way, if only partially. "We did not play a very good game," he told the gathered media, "we played down to..." O'Reilly stopped short of saying that they "played down to" the lowly Sabres but he continued, "that's a game we could have easily won if we'd stuck to our game." With Buffalo ahead 2-1 in the shootout, O'Reilly had an opportunity to extend the skills session. He took the puck at center ice to a chorus of boos and went in on Sabres goalie Carter Hutton only to shoot wide. "It's a chance to win that there," he said of the shootout attempt, "I've got to be better going forward."
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