Three Things We Know After the All-Star Break

by Brett Smith

Brian Gionta circa May 2016 (credit: The Mirror)

The John Scott saga was a nice little distraction wasn’t it?

But now it’s back to serious business Sabres fans. What exactly is this team we’ve got?

Truth be told, the 2015-2016 Sabres are a bit like the box Brad Pitt gets at the end of Se7en. We’re not sure what it holds, we think we know and we’re kind of afraid to look.

Happily, this season a mulligan, but let’s take stock of where we’re at so far.

Kids are carrying the load

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Eichel, Reinhart and the other Sabre young guns were supposed to develop just behind veterans like Matt Moulsen, Brian Gionta and Tyler Ennis.

Time and again, this team has found itself down; Bylsma sounding the call to action. And when a man does step up and deliver a moment of personal brilliance or clutch performance – it’s been Jack Eichel. It’s been Sam Reinhart. It’s been Ryan O’Reilly.

Meanwhile, Brian Gionta has aged like a cheap wine – his desiccated husk likely to be found tossed into the corner of the locker room at the end of the season. Matt Moulsen’s 2015-2016 claim to fame is appearing alongside Jack Eichel in an episode of Beyond Blue and Gold. Tyler Ennis has been stuck in Hell’s first layer of Concussion Limbo, along with unbaptized pagans who spend eternity in an inferior form of Heaven.

Just one of the Sabres top five scorers is over twenty five. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

Third period surges

Along with Columbus, the Sabres have gone into the most third periods down by at least a goal – that’s half of their games. Despite getting in a hole that often, the team regularly fights back, scoring 49 goals when behind going into the third period. That’s the 5^th most goals-from-behind in the league.

They’ve also come from behind to win a lot, with a .192 winning percentage when trailing after two – good for 7^th best in the league

Sabres Goaltending: The Legacy Continues

Not since Darren Puppa was considered the No.1 goaltender in the late 80s has Buffalo had legitimate concerns in net – unlike, say, their neighbors to the north. Fuhr, Hasek, Biron (?), and Miller have all given this team a solid foundation to build out from and the franchise shows no signs of slowing down.

With a team GAA of 2.63 (14^th) and save percentage of .914 (15^th), Buffalo netminders are collective not the problem this season.