Buffalo Sabres: Hard Work Ahead?
Before the season started there were a couple stark dividing points on the calendar; the road trip in January, the Olympic break in February, a packed March with 16 games in 31 days, and what was looking like a brutal November schedule immediately following an easy stretch that just ended. I think last night’s game against the Islanders was a demarcation point that signified the end of an “easy” stretch of 12 games to open the season. Now we have the Philly game on Friday that starts a “hard” ten-game stretch that will end with a Friday afternoon game in Philadelphia on November 27th.
Funny thing is, nobody told the teams we were playing who was supposed to be good.
The Sabres early-season games included perennial doormats such as the Islanders, Atlanta, Phoenix and Tampa Bay. That had most folks figuring on some easy wins and a surge to the top of the standings. Most of them did turn out to be wins, but they were anything but easy as Phoenix, for example, stands at 9-6-1 at this point. Who knew a 2-1 win would look good right now? The Islanders have acquitted themselves well at 5-5-1, a far cry from the team that finished at the bottom of the league two straight years. Maybe a 2-1 series lead isn’t such a bad thing.
In fact, the teams Buffalo has played thus far have a combined record of 65-55-20, which means they have earned 53.6% of available points.
Looking ahead to the Philly-to-Philly stretch of November games the teams Buffalo is scheduled to play have a combined record of 47-36-11, or 55.9% of available points. Better, but not nearly as much as many would have predicted at the start of the season.
Like the Sabres, every team seems to be having some issues at this point. While Buffalo contends with a lack of scoring from their top-two lines, Philadelphia has run into some injury issues. Here’s what some of our upcoming opponents are up against at the moment:
- Philadelphia: With 15 points they are tied with the Islanders for last in the Atlantic, although they do have three games in hand. Their issue appears to be injuries, with Simon Gagne gone for 6-8 weeks and Danny Briere on the shelf with (surprise!) a groin strain. They are also dealing with a bout of the flu that has Matt Carle questionable for Friday. Defenseman Ryan Parent is also expected to miss Friday’s game.
- Boston: Expected to run away with the Division, they are mired in fourth place and dealing with injuries themselves. Milan Lucic and Marc Savard are both out for another 3-5 weeks, and Savard makes that first line go. They dealt Phil Kessel to Toronto during the offseason, and say what you will about his inconsistency, 30-goal scorers are hard to replace. Their offensive struggles have been well-documented (three goals in their last four games including back-to-back shutouts). Now word comes out that forward David Krejci has H1N1, meaning he won’t rejoin the team until he is symtom-free for 24 hours. Couple that with the fact that Tim Thomas couldn’t remain superman forever, and the Bruins have fallen back to Earth a bit. Still, they should be a strong team once they get healthy.
- Washington: Ovechkin is out and is being called “week-to-week” and their goaltending is suspect. Still, Ovechkin should be back when the Caps come to Buffalo.
So while the upcoming stretch can be considered difficult, it doesn’t seem to be as bad as I imagined it at the beginning of the year. And while the Sabres don’t have me entirely convinced, the next ten games will say a lot about their future.
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Still pleasantly surprised with 9-2-1. Will be happen with 18-4-2 and so on
Kevin, WNYmedia, or whoever is responsible… PLEASE turn off the Twitter thing at the bottom of the page. Seriously the most annoying thing I’ve ever seen. Ever.
Don’t normally agree with Wolf, but he’s ABSOLUTELY RIGHT … turn the FRIGGIN THING OFF!
if you click on the birdie it kinda goes away
until you submit a comment…LOL
done…
See! It’s causing chaos! Pete and I are agreeing on things for Chrissake!!
I’d look into refining it if you’re going to keep it for the site. I highly doubt Kevin is hunting for Buffalo Bill’s ghost or eating at Buffalo Wild Wings. Or hunting for Buffalo Bill’s ghost at Buffalo Wild Wings. Maybe change it to Sabres and Shittyfootballteams.
isn’t it more like craptastic football teams?
This 65-55-20 record… does it include the games against the Sabres? If so shouldn’t it really be 63-46-19 = 145 out of a possible 256 points (56.6%) – which would make that “easy” stretch of games be tougher than the “hard” stratch coming up?
Thanks for the birdie fix. Back to the original post, I am not a number cruncher when it comes to supporting my sports teams, but if memory serves, we have struggled big time during the month of November in recent seasons. Last November was when “no back to back losses” becomes “oh, please, not four losses in a row” – with many opponents being division rivals. November is an important month for us, maybe even more so this year with the Olympic break on the horizon.
That said, it’s my second game of the season tonight – Pour Man’s Aud club between periods. I’ll be in my old school Gerry Meehan sweater – stop and say HI!
“Back to the original post, I am not a number cruncher when it comes to supporting my sports teams, but if memory serves, we have struggled big time during the month of November in recent seasons.”
As and you shall receive!
http://sabres.nhl.com/club/app
Here’s the, well, not so bad breakdown:
2008-09 5-7-1 (one 5 game loss streak)
2007-08 6-5-2 (two 3 game loss, one 5 game win streak)
2006-07 9-3-1 (one 4 game win streak)
2005-06 8-5-1 (one 4 game loss, one 3 game and one 4 game win streak)
2003-04 5-6-2-1 (I think… my memory is hazy too!)
Bottom line? This club is *just* starting to remind me of the 05-06 one. They are’t just talking about it, they are playing it. (So far.) It’s way too easy to remember the last two seasons and forget that quite a few players this season – ones who are contributing too – were there “back in the day”.
Yeah, it seems like a lifetime since this team contended. It was only two years ago! I’m still holding onto my line for the season… talk to me in February… but to take our mediocre (at worst) Novembers from the last 4-5 season and turn it into “please, not 4 losses in a row” is doing a disservice to reality.
If you want to argue history in recent seasons, how about this:
I’m hoping to see how this team does playing 3 in 4 days against good teams now. They’ve shown they can play up or down to the level of competition. If 9-2-1 is playing down a level, I can’t wait to see what playing up a level is going to be!
Dave D – I am not sure if you chose to research the numbers to help strengthen my argument or to discredit it, but I thank you either way. We are once again off to a horrific start to November. One more loss and I’ll be singing my “not four losses in a row” song. This, to me, is reality.
Shorter version of my previous comment:
It is November.
The Sabres suck in November.
The end.