What We Learned From the Sabres First Road Trip

By Marc Deschamps 

With their first road trip of the season behind them, the Buffalo Sabres would have liked to return home with a victory under their belts. Though both Florida teams were able to win their respective contests, we were still able to learn a few things about the identity of this hockey club and take away some strong positives. 

1. They can play with big opposition – The Sabres have now encountered the Tampa Bay Lightning twice this season, with the Lightning emerging victorious in both contests. While the first encounter was a lopsided 4-1 affair, Saturday night’s 2-1 Sabres loss could have easily gone the other way, with the Sabres dominating for long stretches of play.

Buffalo had clearly adapted their strategy in the week between contests with Tampa. Buffalo was the better team for the majority of Saturday evening, delivering their best period performance of the season thus far. The Sabres outshot the Lightning 16-3 in the first and put strong pressure on goaltender Ben Bishop for the entirety of the game. 

2. Chad Johnson could be the starting goaltender – It wasn't just the Sabres offense that performed admirably on the road trip. The team might not have a Dominik Hasek or Ryan Miller in net to back them up, but Johnson is starting to show that he might have what it takes to grow with the other members of this club. Since replacing the injured Robin Lehner, Johnson has looked impressive, making big stops when called upon. 

Johnson allowed five goals on this Sabres road trip, but consider the fact that power play tallies accounted for a majority of them. Panthers veteran Jaromir Jagr scored two power play goals 27 seconds apart on Thursday night (once on a 5-on-3, then again with one player short). That can hardly be blamed on the inexperienced Johnson.

Saturday's game winner was also scored on the power play. Johnson made the initial save, but Alex Killorn managed to net the game winner. Had the defense been able to clear the puck (or the Sabres remained out of the box), the team might have celebrated a win on the flight home that evening. 

3. The offense is struggling to find the back of the net – While most fans will readily accept Buffalo won't be a Stanley Cup contender immediately, it's interesting to see that the Sabres are still being frustrated on offense. The offseason gave the team some much-needed scoring punch, but the Sabres have been held to a paltry 1.8 goals per game in their first five contests this season. That all-important second goal eluded them Saturday night, and Killorn's goal left the team scrambling to find the back of the net with just 3:57 remaining in the third period. 

Goals will eventually come from this crew, however. Evander Kane has been held at bay since his disallowed goal in the opener, but his strong level of play this season makes it likely that he'll end that slump sooner, rather than later. Ryan O'Reilly was also without a goal until the team's win against the Columbus Blue Jackets. In the last two games, the Sabres generated 26 shots and 32 shots against the Panthers and Lightning, respectively. If the Sabres continue to apply that sort of pressure, they'll accumulate a lot more wins than losses.

The team still has much to improve on, but their strong foundation is clearly starting to show.