The Buffalo Sabres post bye week struggles continued on Thursday night losing to the Montreal Canadiens 3-1. The Sabres have now lost three straight and have fallen to 24th in the NHL (for those more focused on lottery position).
The Sabres opened the scoring just over seven minutes into the first period on the power play. Rasmus Dahlin and Marcus Johansson were able to move the puck effectively and eventually find Jack Eichel, who absolutely wired one past Carey Price for the 1-0 lead.
The Canadiens would respond just 44 seconds into the second as former Sabre Joel Armia showed some great strength on the puck against Eichel down low before finding Ilya Kovalchuk out front. Kovalchuk’s initial shot is blocked but he does well to follow up while the Sabres defenders are caught off guard and buries one past Carter Hutton tying the game at 1.
The game winner for the Canadiens came on a play where multiple breakdowns by the Sabres defensively essentially gifted Brendan Gallagher his 16th of the season. Three key moments stick out from this play:
Brandon Montour’s decision to be aggressive at the blue line isn’t necessarily a bad one given that the Sabres appeared to be at a numerical advantage. However, he had already backed off quite a bit, the decision to get aggressive at the last second doesn’t give him much of a shot at taking the puck off the players stick and instead takes him out of the play.
Again, the Sabres have numbers here and the puck isn’t really in a great spot for the Canadiens, however Marcus Johansson gives them something from nothing by essentially ignoring the player on his left. His support clearly isn’t needed down low as the Sabres are 3-on-2 there.
Johansson actually begins turning up ice while Gallagher is all alone in front and Girgensons, who quite clearly checks on and sees Gallagher while the play develops, skates past the net. Ristolainen never had control of the puck so there’s really no excuse for either forward to be thinking offense on this play.
Tomas Tatar would add an empty netter late in the third and Eichel’s stick smash over the empty net would be a symbol to how all Sabres fans are feeling right now.
Shot Attempts and Heat Map
Notes:
Kyle Okposo
Head Coach Ralph Krueger mentioned post game that Kyle Okposo’s injury was not a concussion but that he does expect him to miss the next game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Though he’s not the same player he was a few years ago, Okposo was part of a key shutdown line for Krueger along with Johan Larsson and Zemgus Girgensons. The “LOG… line has an expected goals percentage of 54.1 and only concedes an expected goals against per 60 of 1.69, good for 4th best in the NHL among lines with 200 minutes or more played. However, that line has struggled mightily recently as each member has the worst XGF% of any regular forward currently on the Sabres over the last 10 games.
If Okposo misses and extended period of time, Krueger should look to reunite Larsson with Jeff Skinner. In their limited time together, Larsson, Skinner and Conor Sheary combined for an XG% of 66.7, sporting an expected goals for of 3.44/60. It might be exactly what Skinner needs to break his goal scoring drought, and it may also reignite Larsson’s game after a tough stretch in January.
Michael Frolik
Frolik’s time with the Sabres so far hasn’t been ideal for him nor the team. In the 8 games he’s played since his acquisition, Frolik has posted a CF% of 42.86 and an XG% of 36.79, which rank him 5th and 4th worst among regular Sabres forwards respectively at 5v5. Frolik is generally a strong play driver so the numbers even after just 8 games are a bit concerning. So far, his most common line mate on the Sabres has been Marcus Johansson and it doesn’t look to be a good fit for Frolik. Whether the plan for the Sabres is to keep or trade him at the deadline, they may want to consider alternative lines to get more out of their recent acquisition.
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