BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said with the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs starting, every power play in the NHL is starting 0-0.
That’s how the Sabres need to frame it after going 1-for-24 with the man advantage in the first round while allowing a short-handed goal. The Sabres did get a goal from Josh Doan seconds after a power play had expired, so those numbers could have been a bit better. But it’s been an ugly stretch for the Sabres’ power play. Dating back to April 2, the Sabres’ power play is 1-for-46. Buffalo finished 21st on the power play in the regular season, and they’re dead last in the postseason.
“I look at it right now that everybody’s power play going into round two, you just wipe it clean and start again,” Ruff said. “I look at the series like we actually scored two goals. The numbers were one goal and it looks bad. But there’s some bad numbers on good teams. Like we did today, we’re going to continue to work at it. In some areas we’re still a young power play and we have pieces in and out. The best power plays a lot of times are ones that have been together.”
The unit the Sabres are working with now is Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, Josh Norris and Jason Zucker. Norris missed two games in the Boston series and was replaced by Noah Östlund, who seemed to be the fixer the Sabres were missing.
It wasn’t until Game 5 that the Sabres scored their first power-play goal in the month of April. But the floodgates didn’t open from there; the team generated some dangerous chances in Game 6 but came up empty.
Now, with Östlund sidelined and likely out for the series, it’s back to the drawing board to find the next best configuration and tactical adjustments.
“I thought the first few power plays the other night were excellent and the goalie made good saves,” Ruff said. “You have to be able to generate. Our entries were better. Our recoveries off of faceoffs were good. Just stay with the process and something will go.”
The Sabres need something to go. Their second-round series against the Montreal Canadiens could be higher-scoring than the series they just played against the Bruins. The Canadiens had a top-10 power play in the regular season and just scored five power-play goals in the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
So what’s going wrong with the Sabres’ power play? Can they fix it?
Buffalo’s problems start at the dot.
The Sabres were the worst faceoff team in the NHL during the regular season. And while some would say that stat doesn’t matter much when it comes to wins and losses, it does matter on the power play. Losing a faceoff could help the opposing team kill off the first 30-45 seconds of the power play — whether it forces the Sabres to start battling for possession immediately, wasting time and energy, or creates the need for another regroup and set up.
Buffalo doesn’t have much of an answer here, especially on the top unit that always has to start at the dot. So far this postseason, Thompson has only won 25 percent of his faceoffs on the power play; Norris, who has taken some reps on PP1, isn’t much better at 36.7 percent. Sam Carrick, their top faceoff taker, is returning from injury soon, but he’s a fourth-line player without much experience on the power play.
So if the Sabres can’t win draws, they have to win more of the 50-50 puck battles that become a part of a lot of faceoff plays or find quick ways to regain control before the penalty killers clear the zone. Being able to retrieve the puck in the corners to maintain possession is a big part of a successful power play, too — and not just after faceoffs.
“We’d like to have a little bit more in-zone and a little bit more of a shot-focused mentality,” said Tuch, who also plays on the Sabres’ penalty kill. “I think that’s probably the hardest thing when you’re on the PK is when teams are constantly shooting and retrieving pucks; that can wear you down. That’s what we’re trying to do to the opposition.”
Tuch is elite in that area of the game, and Thompson has improved dramatically. But ideally, it’s not Thompson battling along the boards; that unit should instead have more retrievers who can win possession and then set up the Sabres’ best shooters.
Just take this play from Game 2, where Tuch, Jason Zucker and Josh Doan all jump for loose pucks to sustain pressure.
Or this Game 3 sequence, where Ryan McLeod loses his battle, but Tuch and Dahlin are able to recover it and extend offensive zone time.
But the Sabres aren’t winning those battles consistently enough with the top unit as currently constructed. So maybe it’s time to turn to one of their best forecheckers to punch up that top unit. It’s an area where Zach Benson and Josh Doan both thrive; they battle along the boards, pressure opponents to force turnovers and use their speed to pick pucks off sticks. If there’s a personnel adjustment to make, one of them could be the answer.
But considering how shaky the Sabres’ power play has been for so long, it’s going to take more than just a personnel tweak or more emphasis on puck retrievals. This top unit needs to be less predictable.
With a primary shooter, an element of predictability is inevitable. The Sabres are going to do their best to feed pucks to Thompson and let him cook. If it’s not Thompson, look to Dahlin at the point. It’s no different than the Bruins teeing up David Pastrnak or the Oilers leaning on Leon Draisaitl.
But sometimes, teams go too far. Go back to Thompson ripping numerous one-timers in a row against the Capitals earlier this season. Sure, it made for a fun, viral moment. But too often this season, the Sabres have made that their only power-play threat. And that’s even more challenging to pull off in the playoffs, when penalty killers, scouts and coaches are hyper-focused on every detail about their opponents.
It helps to have a little more variety, whether it’s with other shooters or playmakers who can pull defenders out of position. And it doesn’t hurt to have a little more traffic in front.
Östlund’s presence helped with the former in Games 4 and 5 against the Bruins. His willingness to shoot from the right and ability to move the puck around the offensive zone instantly elevated the top unit. Since he’s unavailable, there is even more reason to turn to Doan or Benson here, because along with their retrieval skills, both can contribute some passing and net-front play.
Doan’s net-front role helped the Sabres score just after a power play expired in Game 4.
And Benson’s playmaking has given the second unit some dangerous looks when deployed, too.
Both players helped move the needle on the top unit during their various regular-season reps, too. In Doan’s shared minutes with Thompson and Dahlin (as a proxy for PP1 time, since they are both staples on that top unit), the Sabres’ shot quality (8.84 xG per 60) and scoring (9.30 goals per 60) both ticked up relative to that unit without him. With Benson on the top unit, Buffalo generated even more shots and scoring chances (10.2 xG per 60) and scored 8.77 goals per 60.
Finding ways to be more dynamic and sustaining pressure is just one part of the battle in Buffalo. When the power play is struggling, the Sabres struggle to deal with the first sign of pressure from the penalty killers when they cross the blue line.
That is what has made everything else all the more glaring; when the Sabres don’t win those puck battles or generate enough layers of shots and chances, penalty killers are able to clear the zone. And the Sabres aren’t always able to get back in with control and get back in formation.
Go back to a first-period power play in Game 2. The first entry, a dump-in, was cleared with ease. The second entry, a carry-in from Jack Quinn, was broken up in the offensive zone; the Sabres regained possession but only stayed in the offensive zone for 11 seconds. On the third entry attempt, the Sabres passed the puck four times in the neutral zone — and on that last pass attempt from Norris, the Bruins intercepted the puck and Mark Kastelic raced in for a short-handed chance. It wasn’t until the fourth entry attempt that the Sabres got into power-play formation, and that was about 1:05 into the advantage.
And that wasn’t a one-off instance, either.
Fast-forward to the second period of Game 3. The Bruins cleared the puck nine seconds into the power play. On the first regroup, Thompson’s drop pass sets up an incoming Quinn, who lost the puck to Kastelic, who generated another short-handed chance.
Two more failed regroups later — a pass entry broken up, then Quinn getting stripped of control in the neutral zone — and a Thompson carry-in got Buffalo into the zone with over a minute of penalty time killed off.
That’s part of what made Östlund such a bright spot in Game 4; his time on that top unit started with two successful carry-ins. Since then, there has been a more concerted effort to enter the zone with control, even after he left the lineup with injury.
When the Sabres finally broke through with their first power-play goal in April, it was a Thompson carry-in that got the team over the blue line.
Carry-ins have been especially effective because when Boston managed to disrupt those entries, the team still found ways to regain control and stay in the offensive zone instead of having those attempts broken up in the neutral zone and turn into short-handed chances against. Plus, it leaves less room for error that the team clearly experienced in Round 1.
And that’s what Buffalo has to keep doing against a Canadiens team that looks for those trigger points, like drop passes in the neutral zone and over-passing over the blue line, to create some short-handed looks.
The Sabres’ power play did have some success against Montreal this season, scoring three times in four matchups. They also didn’t allow a single scoring chance against in those four games.
This power-play issue isn’t a new one for the Sabres. They’ve been asked about it constantly and drill it daily in practice. There’s a fine line between making the necessary adjustments and over-complicating things. Dahlin said as much when asked ahead of this series about what the Sabres need to do on the power play.
“The simpleness,” Dahlin said. “The puck tempo. It’s a mix of everything, but just slowing everything down and realizing you don’t have to complicate things. Just go out there and compete and make the right next move. Don’t try to force anything.”