matter2003

Sabres have been bad and are getting worse on faceoff percentage. Overall they are at 46.5%, which is 7th worst but in the last 10 they have been a little over 45% and the last 5 games, 43.5%. Should be getting better, not worse. That being said, the worst team in the NHL on faceoffs is the defending Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche at 43.5% on the season. They were 5th worst last year too and still won the cup. The Blackhawks are the best team in the NHL on faceoffs at 56.4% and are the 2nd worst team in the NHL in term of points. However, in general faceoffs have not been found to be highly correlated with wins and losses. The Penguins over a decade were the winningest team in the NHL and were a bad faceoff team.

There I fixed it for you...

Comrie isn't "help". He has been among the worst goalies in the NHL in terms of allowing goals above average.

Comrie has been really bad outside of his first game. He is 66th out of 74 goalies in terms of Goals Against Above Average at -6.11. Even more astounding since he was a +3 after the first game, meaning since game 1 he has been -9.11. Bad on the PK at 63rd out of 74 with -2.78 GAAA. 65th when just looking at 5v5 Score and Venue Adjusted. Basically he is as bad as the goalies last year were outside of UPL who was decent, but who has been worse than Comrie has been this year.

In terms of players...surprisingly Kyle Clague is our highest ranking player in CF% at 63.93. It's a 7 game sample size so I don't think its a fluke either. Might be wise to give him a look over Bryson. Quinn is in fact the number 1 Sabre regular at 56.90 followed by Skinner at 55.54, Thompson at 54.81, Dahlin and Pilut at 54.59, Cousins at 54.40, JJP at 54.03, Power at 53.80, Tuch at 52.83 and Okposo at 52.31. The worst CF% players are Lyubushkin at 46.69, Joker at 47.08, Mittelstadt at 47.82, Samuelsson at 48.66, Hino at 49.02 and ZG at 49.72. Surprisingly Olofsson is an over 50% CF% player(barely tho at 50.11) Which is explained by Goaltending, goaltending and more goaltending. Any way you slice it this is very encouraging tho.

The QPC(Home Shopping Network Line - I can't take credit for that one, someone else posted it but I find it hilarious!) is DOMINATING CF% and is our best standard line at 57.97%. The TST line(Tuch-Skinner-Thompson) Line is also good at 54.49. However...it appears there are 2 line combinations that have played 5 games and over 35 minutes of TOI that appear to be even better than those... Olofsson-Middlestadt-Quinn line have a 65.57 CF% Skinner-Thompson-Okposo line have a 63.01% CF% Olofsson-Middlestadt-Asplund have the worst CF% of any "regular" line combination at 46.02 showing that Quinn, even as a rookie is a MAJOR driver of CF% for this team. Even more crazy is the Sabres have a 54.08 CF% against divisional opponents this year and are above 50 for all teams they have played...TB was is the worst with a 50.28%

Also it is amazing during the worst tank years we were almost undone by strong goaltending at times stealing games we were being dominated in but now that we are actually good outside of that, the goaltending has been terrible. Nothing will happen until we get better goaltending. This isn't a defense issue, it isn't a forward issue. It is purely on goaltending to be better right now.

IMO, Power is going to be at this level quicker than Dahlin...imagine when the Sabres trot out 2 Dmen capable of 70+ points every year?? Power hit 10 assists in his rookie year faster than everyone in franchise history other than Housley and Calle Johanssen. This team is being squandered due to garbage goaltending, even worse goaltending on the PK and unwillingness to play Anderson more even tho he has played very well. He's 41...so what? He is the only one playing well, and realistically the only one playing above replacement level.

Basically all the metrics show this is actually a pretty damn good team. 7th in the NHL in Corsi is really good. Last year they were 20th and the year before 29th. Anderson has played very well for them having a .917 save percentage and 2.76 GAA. Also has a +319 Goals Saved Above Average, ranking 20th in the NHL. Comrie(66th) has been bad at -6.11 goals saved above average and UPL at -4.93 in only 3 games has been mind blowingly bad to the point he ranks 62 out of 74 goalies... in only 3 GAMES!! Also mind blowing is UPL has a 50% save percentage on penalty kills...how is that even possible? Comrie is also bad at .791. The Sabres have the 2nd highest Corsi on the PK in the NHL! They have given up 21 goals on the PK, but their xGA is only 15...that -6 differential is 4th worst in the NHL behind Anaheim, Vancouver and Edmonton. So realistically the Goaltending on the PK is much worse than their PK itself. The only answer at this point for the Sabres is to play Anderson more until he stops playing well. Yeah he is older but so what? Anderson currently has the highest save percentage of any 41 year old goalie since 1929. Better than Hasek, Brodeur, Belfour and Joseph in their age 41 seasons. Play him. So frustrating to see this team flailing about due to goaltending again, but even more frustrating that we actually HAVE a goaltender playing well and we aren't riding him. Screw his age, ride him until he stops performing well.

Not sure when the last time the Sabres have had 4 players finish with more than 80 points but that would be pretty amazing if that happened... Thompson on a 104 point pace Dahlin on a 93 point pace(would also shatter Housley's franchise record for points by a defenseman when he had 81) Tuch and Skinner on an 82 point pace. Now if we could get some damn goaltending... EDIT: Apparently the only time this has happened in franchise history was in 1991-92 when Hawerchuk had 98 points, LaFontaine had 93(in 57 games!!), Andreychuk had 91 and Mogilny had 84.

Screw that. Trade to get an NHL caliber goalie.

Dude lets in way too many clearly seen shots from places where people should not score from no matter who was shooting. No excuses getting beat from there in OT, Stamkos or not.

Yeah and while Jost was "hooking" he got high sticked in the face...no call of course.

We were also missing fair officiating tonight. It was a bigger joke than our goaltending.

Comrie was supposed to be a sneaky good signing but he has played meh at best other than opening night. Anderson has outplayed him. UPL is a joke and they have nobody else that should even be considered for the NHL.

There is ZERO chance a team being dominated like that only took one penalty all night.

It was a travesty. TB could do no wrong and everytime the Sabres breathed on a guy they were in the box.

Yeah with plenty of help from the refs throughout the game.

UPL does not need to start another game for us...this dude is f**king trash. They dominated this game and got screwed by the refs and crap ass goaltending.

So I am to believe the Sabres committed 4 times the penalties tonight Tampa Bay did? I don't buy it...BS offciating tonight.

Inexcusable play by Power there.

So tired of these douchebags being given every damn penalty call there is while we get nothing.

Is Olofsson out this game or did he get hurt at some point? Haven't heard his name at all.

It looked like they could have called one of the TB players for holding in the Sabres end too as he went for the puck

This is incredibly impressive. Lightning are basically resigned right now to get the puck and just dump it out of their zone back to the Sabres. It's like they are stuck in mud. Sabres are flying out there.