Running for the bus
Running for the bus
Going 3-1-0 on a wicked road trip is good...but a 5-1 stinker to Seattle causes humility
Coming away from a four-game road trip with six of a possible eight points is outstanding, even though it won’t feel like it for the Buffalo Sabres after playing their worst game of the season in a 5-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken.
It’s fine. Losses aren’t fine, but as part of the process of bringing a young-as-hell team along, this is fine. With a veteran team I’d call it a “Burn the tape” game. The kind of game where the second it’s over, the only thing left to do afterwards is to forget it even happened.
For a team this young, however, there is a lot to learn from it.
“Like what, Joe, how to lose to an expansion team for the third time in three games?”
Well, no, that’s not learned that just happens, I guess. Here are a few things to take away from a total ass-whoopin’ from a mythological creature’s team.
Making do
The Sabres made it through most of the road trip without Henri Jokiharju and they went without Mattias Samuelsson on Tuesday. Jokiharju got hurt early against Calgary in the second game of the trip and Samuelsson went out against Vancouver in game three. Going without one top-four defenseman is manageable but going without two of them is asking a lot.
We saw the lack of playing time together really show through against Seattle. Miscommunication, not being in tune where one another was, and having those issues result in the forwards being unusually unsure of how to handle that mayhem.
Turnovers, blown coverages, bad reads…you name it, it happened. Jacob Bryson slid over to play the right side initially with Owen Power while Ilya Lyubushkin was with Rasmus Dahlin. Lawrence Pilut, in his first game of the season, paired up with Casey Fitzgerald. The top two pairings saw a switch at one point because Dahlin and Power were together while Bryson slid back to the left side with Lyubushkin on the right. As far as possession numbers go, things were relatively even and score effects weren’t exactly a reason why that happened.
This isn’t to say these sets did overly well together, there were clear issues, but if Samuelsson is to miss a few weeks, as is the scuttlebutt right now, it gave the players and the coaching staff an idea about who works well together. That Dahlin and Power generated strong numbers together (76.5 percent CorsiFor at 5-on-5) is the least surprising result.
The temptation to keep them together will be very strong, but that runs the risk of having two pairs where confidence may not be as high. That said, there was certainly some moments of miscommunication between Bryson and Power that ideally more practice time could fix up. Unfortunately, the upcoming schedule won’t exactly allow for that.
If you didn’t like the defense pairs against Seattle, tough break because it could be like that for a little while, at least until Jokiharju is cleared to play.
Classic cliché
After the game, Don Granato told the assembled media that Seattle wanted the game more than Buffalo did. It’s a cliché, sure, but it was more than evident. The Kraken forced the issue from the very start of the game. They pressured the puck all over the ice and were physical throughout the game. The Sabres hadn’t really faced a team that’s done that this season. Let’s face it, early season games have a lot of feeling out done in them because no one really has any video to scout with.
That’s a little different now, and trends become evident. Friend of the program Alison Lukan pointed out in the game preview on the Kraken website where some of the Buffalo’s early season weaknesses have been. It was quite evident the team reads Alison’s work because they were able to attack those weaknesses very well. Doing that flustered the Sabres and led to them making mistakes they haven’t made all season until Tuesday night.
Games are about making adjustments and figuring out counters to what’s being used against you. Sometimes the team just doesn’t have it. After playing three games in five days and ending the eight-day trip in Seattle with a game at home against Montreal coming on Thursday, looking forward to getting home and running for the bus will happen.
About the power play
Being polite about the power play means saying it’s “a work in progress.” The Kraken power play scored twice and showed why they were able to do so by utilizing quick passes to not just keep their own feet moving but to open up the Sabres PK to create passing and shooting lanes. It’s an effective method.
The Sabres power play appears very focused on getting the shooters on each unit (Thompson, Olofsson) the puck, almost to a detriment. On a late power play in which they had a goal overturned on an offside challenge, Casey Mittelstadt didn’t face nearly as much pressure on his flank because it was clear where they want the puck to go. On that unit, it’s Thompson or Dahlin up top with the seeming green light to shoot when they see fit. Which is fine if the opportunity is there, or they can create it, but a big problem has been the means taken to get the puck particularly to Thompson.
Setting Thompson up for his big one-timer (or Olofsson for his shot) makes for a great weapon on the power play…but teams appear to know that’s just where they want it to go, and they pressure him tightly to make sure he can’t unleash it.
I am not a hockey coach (obviously), so this is all coming from the eyes of a guy who’s watched a lot of hockey, but that’s how the power play seems to be trying to do things. I’ll very happily be told I’m wrong, but I want to know what they’re really trying to do so I can understand the methodology to it.
So…Casey…
The aforementioned nullified goal occurred because Mittelstadt was not exactly hauling ass back to the bunch to swap out on the power play. It doesn’t look good at all and Granato said it was something he would address with him.
Getting beat because you put in max effort and someone else is better is something you can live with because at least then it’s all about competition. Losing a goal because of a perceived lack of effort though…that’s different.
The play happened roughly five minutes into the third period, and it took away what would’ve been Jack Quinn’s first goal of the season. Instead of it being 4-2 and the Sabres about to get another power play, it stayed 4-1 and Buffalo was unable to score on an extended 5-on-3 power play. It wasn’t the Sabres’ night, and it wasn’t meant to be their night, but a play like that will make even the nicest guy in the world (Granato) upset, and rightfully so.
I’ll tell you this though, no one feels worse about that than Mittelstadt because he knows he did wrong and let down his teammates. Take solace in that at least. Or just be mad about it, whatever, I’m not your dad.
It’s too bad too because it was a pretty sweet play to make the non-goal happen.
