Avalanche, Sabres are starting to figure things out after slow starts
Today on Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Frank Seravalli and Colby Cohen talk about how the Buffalo Sabres and Colorado Avalanche started the season off on the wrong foot but are starting to get things sorted out and find themselves in the win column.
Frank Seravalli: Let’s talk about another team that has been certainly putting pucks in the net and certainly more of late. Actually, two teams. So I’ll give you this. The Colorado Avalanche have won five in a row. The Buffalo Sabres have won three in a row. Both teams had awful starts to the year. Which team are you more confident has figured it out at this point?
Colby Cohen: Colorado. I mean, even though, and you see it right here on the screen, Buffalo is 4-1-1 in their last six games. So it’s more than just the three-game win streak. But you know, when I look at Colorado, I know they’ve got depth issues, but they have something that other teams don’t have. They’ve got Nate MacKinnon, they’ve got Cale Makar and they’ve got Devon Toews. So I’m always going to go Colorado in this discussion, Frank. I think Colorado ultimately is a playoff team this year, especially if they get saves you know watching them last night, that game is pretty tight, they look like they’re in control and Annunen makes a couple of big-time saves. But then all of a sudden they give up a couple of goals you know late and that game gets really tight so at the end of the day I’m putting my chips on Colorado here not Buffalo, I don’t think long-term Buffalo is got enough uh enough in the tank to be a playoff team this year.
Frank Seravalli: See I look at the conventional answer of course here is Colorado but I’m gonna take the dissenting point of view here i’m gonna take the Sabres because I still have serious questions about the Avs and their goaltending. Look Justus Annunen has been really good, with four straight starts.927 save percentage in that stretch of time and you mentioned MacKinnon and Makar nine game-point streaks to start the year unbelievable what they’ve been able to produce. It is such a small crop of that Colorado team that actually is producing, Ross Colton is in that category as well eight goals in nine games his minutes are way up he’s averaged he’s playing six minutes more a night than he’s averaged in his entire career. He’s getting a lot of first power-play minutes leading the league in power-play goals on a unit that finds you yeah I mean it’s it’s been fantastic like there’s no denying that but The Sabres really struggled to score early. They’ve got 25 goals in their last five games. To me, I’m looking at it going, I think if Buffalo can get their offense moving in the right direction, they’re going to be in better shape right now in terms of actually getting some of those answers. Yes, I know Nichushkin coming back in about three weeks for Colorado and things are going to continue to get better. What if you can get Gabe Landeskog back? The depth is going to be key. I just, have real serious reservations about Colorado and their ability. Can Justus Annunen, can he play like that for the next 50-plus games? Like, they’ve got real questions in the net that I don’t think they’ve answered yet.
Colby Cohen: Yeah, and I think Georgiev can still be a, you know, a part of a tandem during the regular season. Like, I’m not just going to write him off. I mean, this is a guy, Georgiev, who had how many wins last year? You know, quite a few in the regular season. So I know it hasn’t started well for him, and I’ve never been the biggest fan of him, to be honest. But I still think he’s a competent NHL goaltender who had a really poor start. So I hear you.
Frank Seravalli: The sample size is too long. 74 games last year, 897 save percentage, 63 in the regular season, and 11 in the postseason.Terrible numbers this year, pending UFA. You can’t win with that type of goaltending.