Buffalo Sabres Not a Surprise, Just Ahead of Schedule

Darcy Regier expected the winning to come.  He knew he could win with the players he signed to long-term deals this summer.  He said right out that these were the players that would bring Buffalo a championship a few years down the road.

Years, months, weeks.  What's it matter?  The Sabres we expected to see later in their careers are growing up quickly—and that's okay with the fans in Buffalo. 

A huge factor in the reason the Sabres have been winning is the stellar play of recently re-signed goaltender Ryan Miller, who currently holds the league's number-one rank amongst starting goalies with a 1.60 goals-against average.  He's also second in save percentage with .940, trailing only Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Mike Smith, who has a .941 for that same stat. 

It helps that the Sabres finally have a stable, reliable goaltender to back Miller up in journeyman goalie Patrick Lalime.  In the two games that Lalime has played for the Sabres, he has a 1.44 GAA along with a .961 save percentage, much better than what was expected from him.

Of course, the goaltenders can't get all the credit.  It helps that the improved Sabres defense has been nothing but stellar in the eight games Buffalo has played this season.  Even without Craig Rivet for the past two games, the Sabres still have allowed the second-fewest goals against in the NHL this season, trailing only the Minnesota Wild.

Constantly labeled an offensive team, Sabres Coach Lindy Ruff has finally realized that he will need to tone it down on the run-and-gun style of play that the team has utilized throughout the three seasons after the lockout.  It worked for the first two years, but after teams started increasing the physical, defensive playing style that was used before the lockout, the Sabres were shut down last year. They were always being picked apart on the transition game, allowing teams to capitalize on their less-than stingy "D".

Stingy is an understatement when considering the defense of this year's team.

Even though the defense has improved, that doesn't mean the offensive potency has decreased, either.  Their offense works a lot like that of the Detroit Red Wings—their defense is their offense. 

The Sabres' style of play, now, is to capitalize on the opposing team's mistakes, keep possession in the opposing zone, and not wait for the perfect play to put the puck in the net.  Of course, the last of the three qualities doesn't seem to show. 

The Sabres still show how young of a team they are when it comes to them making a few-too-many moves, a quality that almost all of them can grow out of as time progresses.  There will always be a few, like Maxim Afinogenov, that will try to put in the extra move here, or the little deke there to throw off his opponents. 

Thomas Vanek is possibly becoming one of the best two-way players in the NHL.  Always picked on for a lack of effort, and an inability to back-check, Vanek has found a way to score every which way this season.  Whether it be shorthanded, on the power play, or even strength, Vanek shows the patience of a highly-matured player who looks for the right play rather than the first choice. 

In his first eight games, Vanek has found the net eight times, and he's also found the sticks of three other players for assists.  As for his back-check, it's fine now.  Vanek is a plus-six this season, on pace to be better than the +47 he had two years ago. 

The Sabres have shown the league once again that they should not be underestimated, a mistake that experts made after the lockout, when the Sabres were pinned to be in the doldrums of the NHL.  I can assure you, that with the way this team is playing now, and the players they have for the next five or six years, they won't be coming anywhere close to the basement for a little while now.