In a 7-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday, the Sabres treated the home crowd to a rare offensive outburst, reminding the 13,292 fans in attendance that they are, in fact, still capable of the brand of hockey that got them to within a point of the playoffs last season.
This was the second time this season the Sabres have scored seven goals in a game. They did it six times last season. Last season, the Sabres scored at least five goals in a game 26 times. They have only done that 12 times this season. So the question after a night like the one the Sabres had on Tuesday is why the team hasn’t been able to play like that more often.
“Yeah, it can be frustrating, but, you know, we’ve got to start somewhere,” said Jordan Greenway, who scored two goals. “We got to be happy, be excited be confident about what we did tonight, and just expect this out of ourselves day in and day out. And I think, if we stick to that game plan, we can string a lot of wins together.”
That’s the odd thing about this Sabres team. They can score and play complete games like this one against the Kings, but they also haven’t won three straight games all season.
“There’s major components that are (a) mystery, but I think the pattern is the outer situation of urgency, we respond to that,” Sabres coach Don Granato said. “So how can we create our own urgency before we’re pressed to it by virtue of a poor performance or two? Can we create that urgency for ourselves? That’s been our challenge. That’s been our challenge since the start of the year. But once the outside dynamics push that urgency, that locker room tends to respond pretty consistently well.”
The truth is the team hasn’t responded consistently enough to any form of urgency. Either that, or they didn’t recognize how urgent the situation was getting. Granato noted earlier this week that the frustration players like Rasmus Dahlin and Dylan Cozens have shown in recent weeks is something he wants to see in more players.
“They are helping us drive that initiative of, ‘Get in the moment. This matters. The urgency is here,’” Granato said. “That’s what we need more of.”
The Sabres got contributions from all over the roster in this game. Six different players scored and 11 different players had a point. They’ve needed more games like this and needed them earlier in the season. But it was nice for the home fans to get a brief reminder of what this team can look like at its best.
# Quick hits
– Entering Tuesday’s game, Zach Benson hadn’t scored a goal in almost two months, his last coming against the Vegas Golden Knights on Dec. 15. He impacts the game in other ways, so he continued to have a consistent role in Buffalo’s top nine, but the lack of offensive production was starting to creep into his head. – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had his fourth shutout of the season on Tuesday. He’s the first Sabres goalie to have four shutouts in a season since Ryan Miller had six in 2011-12. It’s incredible to think Luukkonen was the third Sabres goalie to start a game this season. He has since taken hold of the Sabres’ No. 1 goalie job and made a strong case to be the team’s top goalie heading into next season. – Before the game, Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams was on WGR 550 and strongly denied that he was “shopping” Casey Mittelstadt ahead of the deadline. But he did acknowledge that teams have asked and he has listened. He also said he’s not interested in trading for future assets in any deal involving Mittelstadt or any of the team’s core players.
BARDLER
When the Sabres get space, they can put up a lot of dangerous scoring chances and have the talent to finish most of those.
The problem is that good teams don’t give them space for free and they seem incapable of doing anything to create their own space.
acornhiker
Both kings games had scrubby goals and soft dzone play most teams don’t give us on a night to night basis
carl-swagan
>“There’s major components that are (a) mystery”
Yikes. Not a quote from your head coach that inspires confidence.
Comrade_Slime
Kings also kinda collapsing rn
BBQQA
And they’ll lose at least one of the next 2 games… they cannot string 3 together, so any potential is absolutely worthless.
This teams potential is frustrating because it is completely wasted.
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In a 7-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday, the Sabres treated the home crowd to a rare offensive outburst, reminding the 13,292 fans in attendance that they are, in fact, still capable of the brand of hockey that got them to within a point of the playoffs last season.
This was the second time this season the Sabres have scored seven goals in a game. They did it six times last season. Last season, the Sabres scored at least five goals in a game 26 times. They have only done that 12 times this season. So the question after a night like the one the Sabres had on Tuesday is why the team hasn’t been able to play like that more often.
“Yeah, it can be frustrating, but, you know, we’ve got to start somewhere,” said Jordan Greenway, who scored two goals. “We got to be happy, be excited be confident about what we did tonight, and just expect this out of ourselves day in and day out. And I think, if we stick to that game plan, we can string a lot of wins together.”
That’s the odd thing about this Sabres team. They can score and play complete games like this one against the Kings, but they also haven’t won three straight games all season.
“There’s major components that are (a) mystery, but I think the pattern is the outer situation of urgency, we respond to that,” Sabres coach Don Granato said. “So how can we create our own urgency before we’re pressed to it by virtue of a poor performance or two? Can we create that urgency for ourselves? That’s been our challenge. That’s been our challenge since the start of the year. But once the outside dynamics push that urgency, that locker room tends to respond pretty consistently well.”
The truth is the team hasn’t responded consistently enough to any form of urgency. Either that, or they didn’t recognize how urgent the situation was getting. Granato noted earlier this week that the frustration players like Rasmus Dahlin and Dylan Cozens have shown in recent weeks is something he wants to see in more players.
“They are helping us drive that initiative of, ‘Get in the moment. This matters. The urgency is here,’” Granato said. “That’s what we need more of.”
The Sabres got contributions from all over the roster in this game. Six different players scored and 11 different players had a point. They’ve needed more games like this and needed them earlier in the season. But it was nice for the home fans to get a brief reminder of what this team can look like at its best.
# Quick hits
– Entering Tuesday’s game, Zach Benson hadn’t scored a goal in almost two months, his last coming against the Vegas Golden Knights on Dec. 15. He impacts the game in other ways, so he continued to have a consistent role in Buffalo’s top nine, but the lack of offensive production was starting to creep into his head.
– Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had his fourth shutout of the season on Tuesday. He’s the first Sabres goalie to have four shutouts in a season since Ryan Miller had six in 2011-12. It’s incredible to think Luukkonen was the third Sabres goalie to start a game this season. He has since taken hold of the Sabres’ No. 1 goalie job and made a strong case to be the team’s top goalie heading into next season.
– Before the game, Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams was on WGR 550 and strongly denied that he was “shopping” Casey Mittelstadt ahead of the deadline. But he did acknowledge that teams have asked and he has listened. He also said he’s not interested in trading for future assets in any deal involving Mittelstadt or any of the team’s core players.
When the Sabres get space, they can put up a lot of dangerous scoring chances and have the talent to finish most of those.
The problem is that good teams don’t give them space for free and they seem incapable of doing anything to create their own space.
Both kings games had scrubby goals and soft dzone play most teams don’t give us on a night to night basis
>“There’s major components that are (a) mystery”
Yikes. Not a quote from your head coach that inspires confidence.
Kings also kinda collapsing rn
And they’ll lose at least one of the next 2 games… they cannot string 3 together, so any potential is absolutely worthless.
This teams potential is frustrating because it is completely wasted.
Playing against disinterested teams helps