The Buffalo Sabres returned from their European trip to face the Carolina Hurricanes, the Ottawa Senators and the Chicago Blackhawks, hoping to rebound from a bitter weekend in Sweden that included back-to-back defeats to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The first matchup against the Canes showed promise despite an overtime loss, with goals coming from debutante center Curtis Lazar and left-wing Johan Larsson, showcasing some of the potential scoring depth the Sabres have needed so badly in recent weeks.
Additional goals came from defenseman Henri Jokiharju and left-wing Jeff Skinner in the loss, as the Sabres fell in overtime. That momentum was not carried through to the weekend, however, as the team managed five goals over the next two games, all of which came from center and captain Jack Eichel.
They met with the Ottawa Senators on Saturday Nov. 16 in a 4-2 win for the team, although the real story is Eichel’s four-goal performance, which single-handedly lifted the Sabres to a win over a struggling Senators squad. It was the first four-goal performance of Eichel’s five-year NHL career.
Beyond that, it was the first time any Sabres player scored four in a single night since Thomas Vanek in 2010. This came with its own problems, of course, as the team once again failed to produce goals from beyond the top line. This weakness was highlighted the next day, when Buffalo fell to the Chicago Blackhawks in a 4-1 defeat, with Eichel once again scoring the lone goal.
There are a multitude of answers someone could come up with to explain the club’s offensive struggles, a chief one being injury woes. The team has missed Larsson, left-wing Marcus Johansson, right-wing Kyle Okposo, center Vladimir Sobotka and the recently called up center Tage Thompson. These injuries have resulted in many players getting called up from Rochester, such as Lazar and center Rasmus Asplund. Injury spells like this can be devastating to a team, especially one with an already-thin depth core that has struggled with scoring.
To make matters worse, the AHL affiliate in Rochester has been plagued by a wave of injuries of their own, missing just as many players, some of which may certainly have been candidates for a call-up in the wake of the Sabres’ injury crisis. Additionally, according to a tweet from Sabres beat writer for the Athletic Joe Yerdon, the team has been experimenting with putting defenseman Zach Bogosian on the fourth forward line at practice. Whether this carries over into game time is yet to be seen, but it’s certainly an intriguing idea from head coach Ralph Krueger, as Bogosian has never played in a forward role throughout his NHL career. There is also a possibility that Bogosian is simply being used as a placeholder forward in practice, but this is all speculation at this point. Regardless, it’s something out of the norm this year for the team.
The scoring woes go beyond even-strength as well, and this might be the most worrying point for Buffalo at this stage. Despite starting the season with one of the top power-plays in the league over the first 10 games, the Sabres have failed to convert a single power-play goal over their last 18 attempts, spanning across their last seven games. The top power-play unit, who was the most productive early in the season, hasn’t changed as far as personnel goes either, with the core group of Skinner, defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, Eichel, left-wing Victor Olofsson and right-wing Sam Reinhart remaining together on that deployment.
The Sabres faced off against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday Nov. 19 where they lost 4-1 as they try to sort out their offensive struggles.