Sabres allow six goals in a one-sided loss to Carolina
Sabres allow six goals in a one-sided loss to Carolina
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The Buffalo Sabres once again struggled to put forth a good defensive effort and generate any offense in a lopsided 6-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC on Saturday. The game marks the 10th straight loss in Raleigh by the Sabres (0-8-2) since March 2016, and unlike their overtime loss last month, Buffalo folded up after Sebastian Aho’s opening goal. The Sabres fell behind 2-0 in the first on goals by Aho and Jack Drury and trailed 5-0 after 40 minutes as Aho scored his second, Stefan Noesen, and Teuvo Teravainen added to the lead.
Casey Mittelstadt and Tyson Jost replied in the third for Buffalo, while Brady Skjei scored to finish off the scoring for the Canes. Pyotr Kochetkov made 20 saves for the victory, while Eric Comrie made 29 stops in the loss, moving to 1-4-0 on the season.
Here are three takeaways from Buffalo’s 6-2 loss to the Canes:
Emotionally Fragile
Against St. Louis, the Sabres fell behind 3-0 and rallied in the first and second to tie the game, but crumbled once the Blues scored two goals in rapid succession minutes after tying the game. On Saturday, Buffalo and Carolina were scoreless deep into the first period, but they were never really into the game after Aho scored and Drury scored 70 seconds later.
Greenway Injured
After missing three games due to personal reasons, Jordan Greenway returned to the Sabres lineup on Thursday but suffered an upper-body injury late in the first period on Saturday and did not return. The Sabres are carrying only one extra forward and if Greenway is unavailable on Sunday, rookie Isak Rosen will have to step in against Nashville.
Offensive Stagnation
Whatever marginal defensive improvements the Sabres have made this season, they have been minimized by a rather dramatic offensive decline through the first 24 games of the season. The Sabres at this point are averaging 2.94 goals per game at the 24-game mark and have allowed 83 goals against. At the same point last season, Buffalo had allowed 89 goals, and scored 90 goals; an average of 3.75 goals per game.
The absence of Jack Quinn and Tage Thompson has to be a factor, but clearly, the Sabres are not catching anyone by surprise anymore.
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