Sabres need their big stars to start producing
The Buffalo Sabres have lofty expectations this season, as they look to climb back into the Stanley Cup Playoff picture in the Eastern Conference. So far, through four games, the Sabres are 1-3-0, and there’s already been a sense the panic button is closer than it may appear.
Through their first four contests, Tage Thompson has two points, Rasmus Dahlin has one point, Dylan Cozens has zero points, meanwhile, goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has registered an .886 save percentage in his two appearances. Something needs to change, and quick, or else the Sabres are going to be clawing themselves out of the basement once again.
On Wednesday episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli were joined by Lance Lysowski of the Buffalo News, and discussed the Sabres start, and if there’s any cause for concern after just four games.
Yaremchuk: Let’s talk about the Buffalo Sabres. The fan base seems to be living and dying on every win. We know the pressure their feeling on their team to get back into playoffs, and finally end that drought. In a long way, it’s me asking for a vibe check in the room. Are the players feeling that pressure from the fanbase.
Lysowski: They’re not and last year they were, and that was one of the problems. They got off to a slow start and towards the end of October, half the room thought – ‘that’s it’. Because, the previous year they missed the playoffs by a point. Every game mattered so much. They’re doing a much better job, at least from my perspective, about handling the ups and downs.
They go 0-2 on the trip in Prague, and there was really no panic in the room. They had that really terrible loss to the Kings, where they dominated for two periods, and threw the game away in the third….They feel better about the way their playing with Lindy Ruff as their coach, they’re playing better defensively, now their power-play just has to get going, they haven’t scored a goal yet there.
Seravalli: Yeah, power play will be key, but just their offense as a whole. They get that big game last time out. They put five passed the goalie, and that probably was a huge boost of confidence, but, when you look at where this offense is going to come from Lance, it’s been some of the usual suspects to start. (Alex) Tuch has been really good, when you look at Tage Thompson, he has two goals in four games. (Jordan) Greenway has been fine. But, where’s Jack Quinn? J.J Peterka is coming back from injury, but when you look at some of the other guys on this team, that have more to give, is it Quinn, is it (Peyton) Krebs, who are you looking towards to get on the scoresheet, sooner rather than later?
Lysowski: They need Jack Quinn to produce, they need Dylan Cozens to produce, they need Zach Benson to produce. They made a decision, over the summer, when they bought out Jeff Skinner, they’re going to rely on their young players. They were going to bet on Jack Quinn to come back and produce, after missing a lot of time last season. They were betting on Cozens to be that 30-goal guy again that he was two years ago… and it hasn’t happened quite yet.
For more on the Sabres’ start, and the very latest buzz from around the NHL, watch the full episode here.