Sabres record against also-rans tells tale
The final record was 41-32-9. As it turns out, flipping just one of those 32 regulation losses into a win would have been enough for the Buffalo Sabres to claim a playoff spot and keep the Montreal Canadiens home in their 100th anniversary season.
You can play plenty of numbers games with the 11th non-playoff campaign in the Sabres’ 38-season history. The what-ifs are all over the place.
Injuries, especially to Ryan Miller, were certainly a factor but the team’s woeful record against fellow non-playoff teams will probably be the biggest footnote on the team’s second straight silent spring.
A look at some of the numbers:
Bad losses
The Sabres were 0-4 against Philadelphia but didn’t have a losing record against any other Eastern Conference playoff team. In order of seeds, they were 4-2 against Boston, 2-2 against New Jersey and Washington, 2-1-1 against both Pittsburgh and Carolina, 3-1 against the Rangers and 4-1-1 against Montreal.
The Sabres were also 3-1 against No. 9 Florida and 5-1 against No. 12 Toronto. But what in the world happened against the other four in the East?
Against Ottawa, Atlanta, Tampa Bay and the New York Islanders, the total was a hideous 5-8-5. That’s just 15 of a possible 36 points and that’s your season. Going 1-4-1 against Ottawa and 0-0-4 against Atlanta will resonate all summer.
Lack of production
• Jason Pominville dropped 14 points from last season (27-53-80 to 20-46-66). Pominville has dropped seven goals a year for two years running, from 34 two years ago to 27 last year to 20 this year.
• Jochen Hecht fell off 22 points (22-27-49 to 12-15-27). Two years ago, he had 56 points and was a plus-19. His offensive production has slipped by more than half and he had a minus-9 rating this season.
• Derek Roy was a minus player (minus-5) for the first time since his rookie year of 2003-04, two seasons after he was plus-37. His offense fell from 32-49-81— career highs in all three areas— to 28-42-70.
Miller’s impact
It’s well-known the Sabres were 4-7-2 in the 13 games Miller missed with his high ankle sprain. But whether injured or taking a rest, Miller didn’t get enough help from his friends on nights he was watching.
Miller finished 34-18-6 and backups Patrick Lalime and Mikael Tellqvist combined to go just 7-14-3. So Buffalo got 63.7 percent of the possible points when Miller was in net and just 35.4 percent when he wasn’t.
The injury KO’d Miller’s run at his career high of 40 wins set two years ago and came when he was at his peak. His combined numbers for January and February were 14-6-1 with a 2.32 goals-against average and .929 save percentage.
Overall, it was Miller’s top year to date as he set career-bests in GAA (2.53), save percentage (.918) and shutouts (5).
Vanek attack fizzles
Thomas Vanek became the first NHL player to get 20 goals this season when he scored the game-winner Dec. 8 at Pittsburgh in the season’s 27th game. He seemed a sure bet for 50 goals, maybe 60.
But it took him until the final 20 seconds of Saturday’s finale— the 82nd game—to get his next 20 and finish with 40.
And while Vanek certainly wasn’t himself after suffering his broken jaw Feb. 7 in Ottawa, he had been struggling before the injury too.
He had just five goals in a 21- game span before registering a hat trick Feb. 4 against Toronto. The Sabres were 3-5-1 in the nine games Vanek missed due to injury and the last one in that stretch was the dismal 2-0 loss Feb. 28 on Long Island.
Vanek had eight goals in his 19 games after returning but his lone multi-goal game in that -bstretch was completely tarnished. That’s because his two-goal effort April 1 in Atlanta was wiped out by his colossal gaffe in overtime that led to Ilya Kovalchuk’s game-winning goal.
Connolly factor
Record when Miller, Vanek and Tim Connolly were all on the roster: 17-9-2. Record when one of the three was out injured: 24-23-7.
Connolly played the final 42 games, his longest run of consecutive appearances since the end of the 2005-06 season. He ended as nearly a point-a-game guy (47 points in 48 games).
Around the rink
• Counting shootout winners, the Sabres were plus-16 this season— scoring 250 goals and giving up 234. That’s the third-highest plus differential for a non-playoff team since the lockout (Colorado was plus-21 in 2006-07 and Minnesota was plus-19 this year).
Oddly enough, Buffalo’s plus- 13 last year was No. 5 among teams that failed to make it.
• The Sabres were 12-4 in their classic blue sweaters his season—29-28-9 when wearing the vintage 2006-07 “slug” duds.
• The Sabres have made the playoffs 27 times in 38 seasons. That’s a 71 percent success rate, seventh in the NHL.
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments