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Sabres Facing An Increasingly Difficult Road Within Their Own Division
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- Sabres Facing An Increasingly Difficult Road Within Their Own Division
The Buffalo Sabres returned home after a successful road trip with a 2-1 loss to the division-rival Ottawa Senators in the opener of a four-game homestand on Wednesday. If you look at the overall NHL standings, the Sabres are ranked 16th, which is slightly below expectations for a club that came within one goal of making the Eastern Conference Final, but their 7-5-3 record has them tied with Detroit in the basement of the Atlantic Division standings.
Just over a month into the regular season, every team in the Atlantic is over .500, and the margin between first place Boston and the Sabres/Red Wings is six points. With a .567 winning percentage, Buffalo would be in fifth place in the Metropolitan, tied for fifth in the Central, and in fourth place in the Pacific.
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Injuries and absences have been a factor with many of the clubs in the division. Montreal has been without captain Nick Suzuki for more than two weeks, Ottawa has been without former Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark for the same, Florida has been without Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand for all but two games, Toronto are without center John Tavares and winger Kirill Marchenko, and Detroit is without RFA blueliner Simon Edvinsson and former captain Dylan Larkin, but the Sabres have been relatively healthy, other than a three-game upper body tweak to Rasmus Dahlin.
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The Boston Bruins are proving that last year's playoff berth was not a fluke, as they currently lead the division with an 11-4-1 record, and two clubs (Toronto and Florida) that missed the postseason by a wide margin, have thus far shown that they are improved and capable of competing for a playoff spot.
The issues with the Sabres are simple. They have not shown the same level of consistency, and same attention to defensive detail they displayed last season. Their offense is not as dependable without Alex Tuch, and the young forwards who they were relying on to pick up the slack, have not done so. The goaltending, primarily Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, has been spotty, and without Alex Lyon they have been forced to rely more on Colten Ellis.
Buffalo is just a few points out of a playoff spot, so their sluggishness out of the gate is not fatal, but it is a legitimate cause for concern.
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