There is no panic setting in with the Buffalo Sabres after opening the season with consecutive losses to the New York Rangers and New York Islanders, since they had the misfortune of playing a pair of playoff clubs proficient at playing defensive hockey with two of the best goalies in the league in Igor Shesterkin and Ilya Sorokin.
Through two games, the club has three goals and both New York squads were able to shut down the Sabres top line of Jeff Skinner, Tage Thompson, and Alex Tuch, and Buffalo’s power play, which has gone scoreless in five chances.
“If we keep creating opportunities, eventually they’ll go in,” Skinner said on Monday. "We want to create five-on-five and we'll focus on getting chances, but over the course of the season, that stuff will even out and there'll be more opportunities there. It's two games and we want to help the team win and we want to score and produce offensively, but we've got to just keep focusing on working hard. I think that'll turn it around."
Thompson leads the Sabres in shots on goal with seven and came close on Saturday with a pair of close-in chances that were thwarted by Sorokin. Head coach Don Granato when asked about his top line did not have any concern.
"We looked more like ourselves (on Saturday) and were more in sync as a group of five on the ice. The Mittelstadt line was a perfect example of that. The Thompson/Tuch/Skinner line still is an example who haven't quite found that yet, but we know when they do, it's going to be impressive." Granato said. “Those three players, they were like poetry (last season) and that doesn't just happen. It could potentially happen in Game 1, but it doesn't often, so them getting games under their belt in the regular season, they can get back into sync and for them, it's just a matter of time."
The tonic for the Sabres top line may be the Tampa Bay Lightning, who they face on Tuesday in the beginning of a four-game homestand. Buffalo scored 19 goals in four games against Tampa last season when they had Andrei Vasilevskiy between the pipes. The Lightning are 1-2-0 this season and have allowed 109 shots on goal (36.3 shots per game).