All, NHL

Quick Hits: Sabres at Lightning / at Hurricanes

Boooooooooo.


Everything sucks right now.

The Buffalo Sabres could not have started this quick road trip any worse than they did in Tampa. Buffalo came out absolutely flat and got rolled over by the Lightning.

Jon Cooper was rolling lines like a wizard, while the Sabres were stuck in their defensive zone trying to eliminate Tampa’s offensive chances. Two big points in a tight Atlantic Division playoff race were up for grabs and Buffalo (shockingly) spit the bit.

Buffalo’s ineffectiveness against Tampa continues, pushing the level of ineptitude to just poor levels. In their last 11 games facing off, Buffalo is 2-9 against Tampa Bay. *vomits*

No real idea what happened on Friday night.

Buffalo came out and looked like they might have a handle on things with a real nice first goal from William Carrier and then they shit the bed.

It is always neat to be able to watch a team meltdown before your very eyes and Friday night was no different. Carolina’s first goal was a snapshot from Jeff Skinner, which seemed to confuse Anders Nilsson. The puck bounced off Nilsson’s glove and past him for a goal.

Minutes later, Skinner would rush down the right side of the ice and beat Nilsson again. Full bed shitting initiated.

The team ended up just looking like crap on Friday night, which one wonders why this team can’t seem to play good hockey against mediocre teams, instead of elevating them to new heights.

Buffalo welcomes the Dallas Stars to town on Monday afternoon for a matinee matchup. Puck drops shortly after 1 PM and the game will be broadcast on MSG.

Quick hits!

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    • Bad-to-Bad

Per Sabres PR Dept., this was the 6th of 19 back-to-back games this season.

Buffalo was 2-1-2 in the first set of games and 2-2-1 in the second set.

After this stretch of games, the back-to-back stats are miserable still. Buffalo has yet to take 4 points from a back-to-back situation this season.

This team is not a playoff team. Cold take me on that one, bro.

    • What now?

Buffalo looks to be headed nowhere fast. Goal scoring has improved, no doubt about it. Once dead last by a mile, Buffalo now sits in 26th with 2.29 goals scored per game. Not the greatest but hey, it is better than scoring less than 2 goals per game in dead last.

Goaltending has been superb for the most part. According to the Sabres PR Dept., heading into Friday’s game, Buffalo’s goaltenders had the fifth-best combined save percentage (.923) in the league and the sixth-best save percentage during 5-on-5 play (.933).

The defense has most certainly not been the best with Kulikov still absent and guys like Justin Falk seeing a lot more time than he probably should. Most agree that Taylor Fedun has actually earned a look, while Falk is here out of necessity.

Something has to give, or the Buffalo Sabres will look at another trade deadline as sellers while other teams look to bolster themselves for the Stanley Cup Playoffs and beyond.

    • Bogo 500

On Friday night, Zach Bogosian played in his 500th career National Hockey League game.

In the game, Bogosian had a relatively quiet evening, recording 5 shots and a -2 rating.

Throughout his career, Bogosian has tallied 161 points over 3 teams.

In 393 games with the Atlanta Thrashers and Winnipeg Jets, Bogosian recorded 127 points (40 goals, 87 assists)

In the next 107 games with the Buffalo Sabres, Bogosian recorded 34 points (7 goals. 27 assists).

    • Standings Update

Buffalo’s loss to Tampa on Thursday took a large bite out of their playoff probabilities. Percentages dropped down 4.7%, which gave Buffalo a 8.1% playoff probability heading into Friday night’s matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Friday’s blowout loss to Carolina did not help at all, either. Following Friday’s loss, Buffalo’s playoff probability sits at a paltry 4.6 percent (dropped 3.5 percent with loss).

Start looking toward the Draft or something, eh?

    • Tweets of the Games

rip cody franson


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