Everything fell into place for the Buffalo Sabres in their remarkable second half run last season.
The team climbed from the bottom of the National Hockey League standings and were one win away from reaching the Eastern Conference Final in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
With a run that was the talk of the league beginning December 9th, the Sabres returned to respectability.
The Sabres were getting timely scoring, penalty killing ranked fourth in the league to finish the season and the goaltending threesome of Ukko-Pekka-Luukkonen, Alex Lyon and Colten Ellis performed very well, particularly in the regular season.
Fast forward to the first month of the 26-27 season and the Sabres look very different from the club that reignited the passion of its fan base and ended an unprecedented fourteen year playoff drought last spring.
Sabres forwards, goaltending struggles
Forwards that are key components of Buffalo’s quest for a return to the postseason are off to extremely slow starts.
Peyton Krebs and Zach Benson have yet to find the back of the net so far this season and Konsta Helenius and Ryan McLeod have just one goal each.
Jack Quinn leads the forward group with six tallies, Tage Thompson has added five goals, but the team as a whole ranks 21st in the league in goal scoring.
The departure of versatile winger Alex Tuch has hurt the penalty killing numbers significantly, that coupled with an inability to convert on the man advantage has the Sabres special teams units ranked near the bottom of the league rankings.
Between the pipes, the preseason injury which has sidelined Alex Lyon has impacted the Sabres options in net.
Luukkonen has surrendered goals at critical junctures in games, costing the team valuable points in the standings.
Ellis has not seen action since he was pulled after two goals leaked through him in a home contest against Florida on October 12th.
The concern for what ahead this season is tied to a lack of reinforcements.
With The Sabres failing to close the deal on acquiring elite netminder Connor Hellebuyck from the Winnipeg Jets, Buffalo is likely forced to ride out the season with what they have between the pipes.
The asking price to bring back Tuch would have been extremely high.
However, failing to bring in someone to replace at least a portion of the thirty-three goals Tuch delivered last season may well prove to be a mistake.
There is still time for this team to find its footing but the Sabres once again find themselves in the position of making up ground in the tightly contested Eastern Conference standings.
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