Buffalo Sabres: Power play woes are a big concern

After an explosive start of the season, the Buffalo Sabres have taken a huge step back. The biggest reason has been their lack of success on the power play.

The Buffalo Sabres roared out of the gates losing just two of their first 10 games. The month of October was filled with success, with the Sabres clicking seamlessly as a group and going 9-2-2 in the first month of the season. Then the calendar turned and the wheels fell off.

In October, they never lost in consecutive games. In November, they have not won in consecutive games. They have fallen to fourth in the Atlantic Division and have lost all the momentum they generated from just a month ago. What is happening now is eerily similar to what happened last season, when the Sabres went from a 10-game winning streak only to collapse completely.

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The team has kept most of its players from last season and it’s no surprise that they have a weakened mentality after what they went through last season. They’re spiraling right now but with a strong coach in Ralph Krueger guiding this team, they have the opportunity to turn things around. The biggest task on the list is their struggling power play.

The team has gone 1-for-37 on the power play in their last 13 games and in two chances against the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, they failed to put a shot on net. The team went from second-best in the league in the month of October to dead-last in November.

A big reason was the concussion that sidelined power play quarterback Rasmus Dahlin. He’s a key piece in the Sabres’ top unit and having him out was a big blow. However, with the talent that the Sabres still deploy, it shouldn’t have made that big of a difference. Jack Eichel, Victor Olofsson, and Sam Reinhart are all good goal scorers but the problem is that the rest of the league has caught on.

Both Olofsson and Eichel lead the Sabres in power play goals and other teams have started guarding them more closely, preventing good passes from reaching their sticks. The puck movement of the top unit has become static, which makes any shot that the goaltender has to face easy to stop.

Confidence is a big thing when it comes to the man-advantage and with the struggles the Sabres have been going through, it has gotten to their heads. Entering the offensive zone and setting up has become practically impossible and none of the players are willing to make any risky passes. The result is a lot of slow puck movement that is easy to defend against.

Dahlin has been out “indefinitely” after suffering a concussion from the elbow of Erik Cernak but when he’s back he will add some much-needed play-making skills onto the power play. With the goaltenders playing well and the team being solid 5-on-5, once the team gets their specialty teams back on track, they will be a threat in the East again.