Jiri Kulich’s emergence, other takeaways from Sabres’ lousy trip out West
Kulich is emerging as a top-of-the-lineup player, plus is Sabres coach Lindy Ruff out of buttons to push?
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Saturday afternoon, the Buffalo Sabres thought they were about to tie the score in the third period against the Edmonton Oilers. Tage Thompson had taken a shot from the point, and Jiri Kulich was parked in front of the net battling for position. When the rebound bounced toward him, he kicked it toward the net attempting to get a stick on it. But it went straight in, and officials reviewed the play to determine the goal wouldn’t count. The score stayed 3-2, and that’s how it finished for Buffalo’s third loss of the trip and fourth loss in the last five games.
“We’ve seen almost every way of losing a game this year,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff told reporters after the game.
Such is the case when a team is last in the Eastern Conference with an 18-26-5 record. Here are some thoughts on Buffalo’s trip.
The games
- 6-4 loss against the Seattle Kraken
- 3-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks
- 5-2 loss against the Calgary Flames
- 3-2 loss against the Oilers
The takeaways
1. Jiri Kulich is emerging as a top-of-the-lineup player
Kulich started this trip returning from an injury that cost him four games. Kulich was arguably Buffalo’s best player during this four-game trip. He had at least six shot attempts and at least four individual scoring chances in every game while centering the top line between Thompson and JJ Peterka. In a 3-2 win against the Canucks on Tuesday, Kulich had a goal and two assists. Against the Oilers on Saturday, he had another goal on a one-timer. He also had a goal that was disallowed. Kulich has nine goals and 13 points in 35 games this season. Seven of those goals and 11 of those points have come since Dec. 7.The Sabres have needed another top-six forward, and it looks like they have one in Kulich. Lindy Ruff has expressed confidence in Kulich’s ability to play center because of the way he exits the zone defensively and handles his responsibilities away from the puck. For a 20-year-old rookie to jump onto the top line and play the way he has is an encouraging sign. The next step is to get Kulich time on the top power play because he looks like he could provide a real offensive boost down the stretch.
2. The power play is still holding the Sabres back
In the loss to the Flames, the Sabres went 0-for-6 on the power play and allowed two short-handed goals. Buffalo finished the trip 1-for-14 on the power play. The Sabres went 0-for-3 on the power play against Edmonton, but one of their goals was scored shortly after the power play ended. They started creating more chances with the man advantage against the Oilers, but it’s tough to grasp for silver linings when the season results are what they are.Would you believe the Sabres are sixth in the NHL in goals per game at five-on-five? The big problem with this team is it’s 27th in the NHL in power-play percentage. For the second straight season, the power play has held this team back. The Sabres might be in the wild-card race if the power play was even league average.
3. All three goalies played on this trip. All three lost.
Because Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen started the trip dealing with a lingering ailment, Devon Levi got a chance to play against the Kraken. He didn’t look sharp in the 6-4 loss, so the Sabres sent him back to the AHL. Luukkonen was rock solid in the win against the Canucks but then struggled badly in the loss to the Flames. Ruff turned to James Reimer, who stopped 31 of 34 shots but couldn’t come away with a win.It’s tough to pin this season on goaltending when the Sabres have had so many other issues. But according to Natural Stat Trick, the Sabres’ five-on-five save percentage is 25th in the league. Their high-danger save percentage at five-on-five ranks 31st in the NHL. In all situations, their team save percentage is 28th in the league, and their save percentage on high-danger shots is last in the NHL. One of the reasons the Sabres made a late-season push to 84 points last year was because Luukkonen was one of the best goalies in the NHL from January on. The Sabres haven’t gotten the same level of goaltending this season, and they haven’t been able to play consistently enough in other areas to make up for that.
4. Is Lindy Ruff out of buttons to push?
After the Sabres’ loss to the Kraken, Ruff pointed to conditioning as a possible reason the team was losing so many battles. He held a rare morning skate on the second half of a back-to-back Tuesday morning before the Vancouver game. The Sabres responded with a spirited comeback win against the Canucks. But the fact conditioning was brought up as a possible issue for this team in January of what was labeled a “win-now” season is perplexing. Players spoke in training camp about how tough their practices were under Ruff. He had them doing pushups for mistakes. So you can imagine Ruff’s frustration over that being an issue in January.Ruff has tried everything this season. He has benched players, scratched players, changed the lines, pushed harder at practice, taken his foot off the gas at practice, called players out in the media and tried to boost confidence in other instances. The results haven’t changed for this flawed Sabres team, and I can only imagine how exhausting that has been for Ruff.