The Buffalo Sabres are now losers of six straight games. They're now 6-13-3, good for sole possession of last place in the NHL with just 15 points.
This team shows absolutely no desperation in the face of either of these things, and it showed in their 5-2 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon in Uniondale.
Buffalo found the first goal of the game early, with defenseman Jacob Bryson firing a shot from the point that went off the post and in. From there, the Sabres allowed the Islanders to find their game in the second period.
Let's take a look at three observations from the game:
1.) Bryson continues his strong start with first NHL goal
Let's start with something positive.
Bryson scored his first NHL goal early in the game, giving Buffalo a 1-0 lead to start their afternoon. It wasn't able to last, but Bryson put in, yet, another solid day's work.
The pairing of Bryson and defenseman Brandon Montour had the most time on ice of any Sabres pairing at 5-on-5, and Bryson ended up third among Sabres defenseman in total time on ice with 19:34.
He's been heavily relied on early in his NHL career, and it's looked like he's ready for it.
2.) Islanders open the floodgates in the second period
The Islanders got off to a rocky start, but by the end of the first period, it seemed they had things figured out. By the beginning of the second period, it more than seemed like the Islanders had it figured out.
Islanders forward Mathew Barzal opened the scoring for the Islanders less than four minutes into the period. Barzal was 1-on-1 with Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen before using his speed to pull ahead of him. Ristolainen tried to check him off the puck, but Barzal lifted Ristolainen's stick and sailed past him for the breakaway before putting a deke on goalie Carter Hutton to put the puck past him.
It was a likely goal of the year candidate as Barzal put the puck between his legs and was able to score just past Hutton’s extended left leg.
From there, the Sabres unraveled, and the Islanders scored the next three goals to put the Sabres away pretty quickly.
3.) Goaltending not the biggest problem, but it's not helping either
The Sabres have had major issues scoring. There's no getting around that. It's the No. 1 problem this team needs to improve.
Far and away, goaltending is No. 2.
Between Sabres goalies Carter Hutton and Jonas Johansson, even if the Sabres were getting the offense they need, they are certainly not preventing other teams from opening up their offense.
Hutton is 1-6-1 with a .891 save percentage. His save percentage on the season at 5-on-5 is just .880 on the season, good for last place among goalies who have played at least 400 minutes this season.
Meanwhile, Jonas Johansson has not provided much in terms of relief for the current Sabres default starting netminder. Johansson is 0-2 in his two starts this season, holding a .902 save percentage in all situations, with a .877 save percentage at 5-on-5.
If the Sabres can figure out the scoring, it's not the only piece of the puzzle. The Sabres sit last in the NHL with a PDO of .960, made up of their league-low 5-on-5 shooting percentage of 5.3% and third-worst 5-on-5 shooting percentage of 90.73%.
They'll still need to figure out how to keep pucks out of their own net as much as they need to find a way to put pucks in the opposing team's net.
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What if I told you that you could watch and listen to both of these same teams play for the third time in a row on Sunday afternoon? Would that be something you might be interested in?
That's right, the Sabres are right back at it against the Islanders this Sunday at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y. We'll kick things off with the Paul William Beltz Pregame Show with Brian Koziol at 11 a.m. EST, with puck drop scheduled for just after 12 p.m. EST. It's a nationally televised game on NBC, so the only place you'll be able to hear Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray give their call of the game is on the radio flagship of the Sabres - WGR Sports Radio 550.