The Buffalo Sabres stumble into the month of December with a record we haven't seen since the tank years and in honor of that, we've added that 2013-14 season to our list just so we can see how this team stacks up (or, more appropriately, falls down to that level.)
For posterity's sake, here is their record after 25 games:
2017-18: 6-15-4 (16 points)
2016-17: 9-10-6 (24 points)
2015-16: 10-12-3 (23 points)
2014-15: 9-14-2 (20 points)
2013-14: 5-19-1 (11 points)
It's the 2017-18 NHL and across the league, goals are up. However, in Buffalo it's a different story as they're scoring league-worst 2.20 goals/game. In 2015-16 they managed to come to within .80 of the league-leader in goals/game but last season they slumped to about minus-one g/gm. This season the Sabres have reverted back to being about 1.4 goals/game worse than the top team which was where they were during the tank years and, as their record would indicate, that's just not cutting it.
The Sabres could use some help from the powerplay in the goal-scoring department like they did the prior two seasons, but it has been abysmal. Buffalo had the league's best powerplay last season at 25.4% but it has collapsed under the stewardship of the new coaching regime to a second-worst 12.8% conversion rate which is actually worse than their tank-era percentages.
One constant throughout the last four-plus years has been poor 5v5 goal-scoring as they've ranked at or near the bottom of the league every year. Last month they had a bit of a reprieve but it's back down to 28th through November. When you have a bottom-feeding powerplay and only 37 even strength goals this season, one can see why the Sabres are scoring only 2.20 goals/game which, by the way, is smack-dab in the middle between the two tank seasons and the two post-tank seasons.
When a team can't score, they'll need to rely upon stopping goals and the Sabres have done a fairly decent job of that. Yet they'd need a Dominik Hasek-like performance night-in/night-out to save them from being a 30th place team. In November they cut down the shots-against to just under 31 (20th in the league) and their penalty kill has gotten slightly stingier, but the tandem of Robin Lehner and Chad Johnson have a combined goals-against of 3.36/gm. Even in 2014-15, their worst season, all five Buffalo goaltenders managed a 3.28 GAA.
The Sabres begin December with a home-and-home vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins beginning tonight and they're deep in the abyss. Last year at this time the Sabres were seemingly coming back from the depths of despair with the return of Jack Eichel, who was out for the first 21 games of the season. Eichel's high-ankle sprain and other injuries had crippled Dan Bylsma's team, especially on offense yet they started out December extremely well and looked to be on the road to recovery. But the Sabres fell apart at the end and finished with a 5-6-3 record for the month. In December, 2015 under Bylsma they went 5-7-2.
Ironically, they had better December records during the tank years going 5-5-2 in 2013 and 6-7-1 in 2014 with a much less talented team and Ted Nolan as head coach.
Go figure.
Buffalo Sabres Team Stats (League Rankings)...(Leader):
Wins
--October: 3, (T-29th)...(STL, TBL, 10)
--November: 6, (T-29th)...(TBL, STL, TOR, 17)
--2016-17: 33 (25th)...(WSH, 55)
--2015-16: 35 (23rd)...(WSH, 56)
--2014-15: 23 (30th)...(ANA, 49)
--2013-14: 21 (30th)...(BOS, 54)
Atlantic Division Standing
--October: 8th...(TBL)
--November: 8th...(TBL)
--2016-17: 8th...(MTL)
--2015-16: 7th...(FLA)
--2014-15: 8th...(MTL)
--2013-14: 8th...(BOS)
Eastern Conference Standing
--October: 16th...(TBL)
--November: 16th...(TBL)
--2016-17: 15th...(WSH)
--2015-16: 14th...(WSH)
--2014-15: 16th...(NYR)
--2013-14: 16th...(BOS)
League standing/Points
--October: 29th/8...(TBL/21)
--November: T-30th/16...(TBL/36)
--2016-17: 26th/78...(WSH/118)
--2015-16: 23rd/81...(WSH/120)
--2014-15: 30th/54...(NYR/113)
--2013-15: 30th/52...(BOS/117)
Points Percentage
--October: .333 (30th)...(STL, TBL/.808)
--November: .320 (30th)...(TBL/.720)
--2016-17: .476 (26th)...(WSH, .720)
--2015-16: .494 (23rd)...(WSH, .732)
--2014-15: .329 (30th)...(NYR, .689)
--2013-14: .317 (30th)...(BOS, .713)
Goal Differential
--October: -15 (30th)...(TBL, +17)
--November: -30 (30th)...(TBL, +25)
--2016-17: -36 (24th)...(WSH, +81)
--2015-16: -21 (20th)...(WSH, +59)
--2014-15 -113 (30th)...(NYR, +60)
--2013-14: -91 (30th)...(BOS, +84)
Goals/Game
--October: 2.42 (29th)...(TBL, 4.08)
--November: 2.20 (31st)...(NYI, 3.67)
--2016-17: 2.43 (24th)...(PIT, 3.39)
--2015-16: 2.43 (25th)...(DAL, 3.23)
--2014-15: 1.87 (30th)...(TBL, 3.16)
--2013-14: 1.83 (30th)...(ANA, 3.21)
Shots/Game
--October: 31.5 (17th)...(MTL, 38)
--November: 30.9 (20th)...(CAR, 35.7)
--2016-17: 30.4 (15th)...(PIT, 33.5)
--2015-16: 29.5 (17th)...(PIT, 33.2)
--2014-15: 24.2 (30th)...(CHI, 33.9)
--2013-14: 26.3 (30th)...(SJS, 34.8)
5v5 Goals
--October: 18 (19th)...(CLB, 28)
--November: 37 (29th)...(TOR, 66)
--2016-17: 126 (28th)...(MIN, 187)
--2015-16: 121 (28th)...(DAL, 167)
--2014-15: 110 (29th)...(TBL, 181)
--2013-14: 96 (30th)...(ANA, 190)
Powerplay
--October: 14.3 (23rd)...(DAL, 30.8)
--November: 12.8 (30th)...(TBL, 27.4)
--2016-17: 24.5 (1st)
--2015-16: 18.9 (12th)...(ANA, 23.1)
--2014-15: 13.4 (30th)...(WSH, 25.3)
--2013-14: 14.1 (29th)...(PIT, 23.4)
Goals-against/Game
--October: 3.58 (27th)...(LAK, 2.00)
--November: 3.36 (28th)...(SJS, 2.17)
--2016-17: 2.82 (19th)...(WSH, 2.16)
--2015-16: 2.62 (15th)...(ANA, 2.29)
--2014-15: 3.28 (29th)...(MTL, 2.24)
--2013-14: 2.96 (25th)...(LAK, 2.05)
Shots against/Game
--October: 32.5 (19th)...(SJS, 28.7)
--November: 31.2 (T-11th)...(SJS, 28.7)
--2016-17: 34.3 (30th)...(LAK, 25.9)
--2015-16: 30.6 (22nd)...(NSH, 27.3)
--2014-15: 35.6 (30th)...(LAK, 27.0)
--2013-14: 34.3 (28th)...(NJD, 25.5)
Penalty Kill
--October: 82.5 (11th)...(LAK, 93.0)
--November: 81.1 (13th)...(LAK, 89.5)
--2016-17: 77.6 (25th)...(BOS, 85.7)
--2015-16: 82.6 (9th)...(ANA, 87.2)
--2014-15: 75.1 (30th)...(MIN, 86.3)
--2013-14: 81.4 (20th)...(NJD, 86.4)
Faceoff Percentage
--October: 50.4 (18th)...(OTT, 53.9)
--November: 51.4 (11th)...(PHI, 53.0)
--2016-17: 49.6 (17th)...(ANA, 54.7)
--2015-16: 49.4 (21st)...(ARI, 54.7)
--2014-15: 44.9 (30th)...(BOS, 53.6)
--2013-14: 46.8 (29th)...(NSH, 53.1)
Follow me on twitter
@boosbuzzsabres 
Join the Discussion:
»