Lack of Defence

The Buffalo Sabres lost their season opener 6-4 to the New York Islanders. The offensive was still churning as it did last year, but the defence was a complete mess. Ryan Miller had very little chance on the shots he let, but the Sabres play in their own zone was horrible. Buffalo was unable to cover anyone in front of the net all game long. Even with the Sabres offense you can not expect to win games when you allow six against. The problem was not only with the players who are assigned the role of defenders, but to the offence as well for failing to come back to the puck and pick up a player.

Powerplays did not help the Sabres again, as is becoming all too common. The Sabres were zero for three on the powerplay (with not nearly enough shots), while the allowed the Islanders to go three for four (including a 3 on 5). Although the 3v5 goal can almost be excused, there is no reason that any team should only be able to prevent the powerplay from scoring 25% of the time. In fact the Sabres actually outscored the Islanders in five on five play, so if the Sabres powerplay and penalty kill were at least decent then there is no reason that Buffalo would not have won.

Official Three Stars

Mike Comrie

Ruslan Fedotenko

Jaroslav Spacek

My Three Stars

Mike Comrie - (Two goals, Two Assists)

Rick DiPietro - (Inspite of allowing 4 goals)

Derek Roy - (The only Sabre with his head in the game)