BUFFALO – Through nine games this season, the Sabres sport an underwhelming but intriguing 4-3-2 record.
The team that ended last season on a torrid 39-9-5 run has stumbled out of the gate a bit, often falling behind multiple goals before roaring back.
Incredibly, the Sabres have held a lead just 60:32 this season, barely the equivalent of one game. Only two teams – the hapless Calgary Flames (39:21) and Los Angeles Kings (32:59) – have led their opponents fewer minutes entering Monday’s schedule.
Meanwhile, the Sabres have trailed a stunning 250:57, the NHL’s fourth-worst total.
Yet having roared back and erased a two-goal deficit five times this season, including in each of the last three contests, they find themselves above .500.
They’re 3-1-0 when the opponent scores first.
“We can see when we’re down a couple goals, that’s when we play our best hockey,” said Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin, who practiced Monday and plans to return from his upper-body injury Wednesday against the Philadelphia Flyers. “So we got to make sure we have better starts to the game … because it’s mentally hard to have to come back every game. We got to flip it around a little bit.”
Of course, while the Sabres possess the belief they can overcome anything, they understand they’re living dangerously. If you regularly face multi-goal deficits, eventually you’re going to lose more games than you win.
Sometimes we’ve been able to score the first goal, but we haven’t been able to maintain that type of pressure or get that second one to get us a couple goals,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said.
But they’ve displayed maturity, finding ways to win or eke out a point when they’re not at their best and with some of their top players sidelined. To Ruff, that illustrates they “handle some of the adversity we’ve been in.”
“Whether it’s getting behind in games, whether it’s maybe some key personnel being out,” said Ruff, whose Sabres went 1-0-2 with Dahlin absent. “Giving the other team the lead, (it’s) not easy to always play from trailing. So I think we’ve learned that if we stick to our game, we can get back in it.
“I think there’s been third periods we’ve done the right thing, we’ve been rewarded and we’ve found ways to win games.”
At their best, the Sabres showcase a fast game, attacking their opponent in waves. As they proved last year, they can play aggressively and still execute a rigid defensive system.
So far this season, they’ve only occasionally resembled that team.
They’ve averaged 3.0 goals per game and allowed 3.67, the 19th-lowest and sixth-highest numbers, respectively, in the league. Last year, they averaged 3.45 goals per contest (fifth highest) and allowed 2.93 (11th lowest).
Still, while it’s early, they began Monday’s schedule in the Eastern Conference’s second wild card spot.
“I think that’s kind of where you find confidence in the room is that we know, like, deep down, that we – individually and team-wise – haven’t been our best, and we’re finding it,” Sabres winger Josh Doan said.
The Sabres should also take confidence from the three games they played without Dahlin, one of the NHL’s most dynamic defensemen.
When Dahlin was injured in the second period of last Monday afternoon’s 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers, the teams were tied at 2. As the Swede recovered, Sabres earned four of a possible six points during their three-game road trip.
The Sabres have traditionally fallen apart without Dahlin. When he missed games in the previous two seasons, they had a combined record of 1-9-3.
“It got brought up a lot how we’d struggle in the past without him in the lineup,” Doan said. “I think, as a group, we have to be better at winning games when we lose big pieces, and … when he goes down, we got to find ways to stay afloat without him. I think as a group, we did a really good job.”
In Dahlin’s absence, other defensemen stepped up.
Olen Zellweger scored two goals in last Tuesday’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Owen Power, who has been playing big minutes, scored the overtime winner in Thursday’s 5-4 triumph in Montreal. Dennis Gilbert and Mattias Samuelsson scored in the third period that night to tie the contest.
“Guys have been great on the back end, playing real good hockey,” Dahlin said. “Solid but also good offensively. So I’m very happy with how my boys are playing.”