The Buffalo Sabres are 5-2, sit one point out of the Northeast Division lead and have a sound game when it comes to road contests. Yet, something is broken.
Buffalo’s power play has become a burden for a team that has had an otherwise sparkling start. Many Chicken Little fans are bemoaning the two lackluster home efforts, but it is the power play that seems to carry the greatest cause for concern. There is reason to worry about the 0-2 home record, both games were practically carbon copies of themselves and it is an eerie reminder of the 0-6-1 home start the Sabres had last season. It just isn’t paramount at this point in time.
After arriving home from Europe with a power play efficiency just south of 40%, it seemed as if the addition of Christian Ehrhoff and additional offensive depth was already paying off. The Sabres went 3-for-8 on their power plays in Europe; they are 1-for-17 since. Will Hunting could tell you those are bad numbers.
While there are several factors that make up a successful or unsuccessful power play unit, the most important is establishing zone time and effectively managing traffic to generate chances. This is an obvious observation, but too many fans think that shooting is all that is necessary with the man advantage. This is false. Just look at Tuesday’s results. The Sabres third power play saw Buffalo move the puck well throughout the zone for and an open slapper from Jordan Leopold along the boards. Mathieu Garon saw the shot the entire way and made an easy glove save. That effectively ended the Sabres final power play. If that shot comes through traffic it is far more effective than firing from a wide-open lane on top of the circle.
Now, there are plenty of other factors that will result in an efficient or inefficient unit, it is actually more the sum of its parts than anything else. Controlling the puck, whether off the face off (yes, Mr. Schopp, they do matter) or through a re-entry is key, along with exploiting the odd-man situations. I group finding the 2-on-1 in with puck movement and establishing zone time. Outside of scoring on quality shots, those three factors may be the most important.
Outside of Saturday, which was more or less a cluster of garbage, the Sabres have done a fairly good job of establishing their power play in zone. However, they haven’t forced the issue much, opting instead to keep the puck to the perimeter, limiting chances from in close and through traffic. This is where the Sabres have identified their main issue.
Lindy Ruff retooled both of his units prior to Tuesday’s’ game. After another o’fer outing he decided to move Christian Ehrhoff back to the top of the zone, rather than the top of the circles. Ruff cited the need to exploit Ehrhoff’s world class shot, as the defenseman only has one goal this season (an empty netter against Montreal). Ehrhoff’s impact has been minimal because he is trapped at a low point in the zone and along the wing. By moving him to the center of the formation, Ruff puts the puck on his stick more often.
One other change that Ruff seems hesitant to make is removing Marc-Andre Gragnani from the first unit. His relative ineffectiveness in addition to the ease in which he can be replaced makes him an easy candidate to come off the top unit. Andrej Sekera offers a bit more veteran savvy plus virtually the same strengths as a power play point man. Sekera is a pure passer who can distribute to Ehrhoff and the rest of the unit just as well, if not better than Gragnani. Scratching Gragnani will put Mike Weber in the lineup, providing some defensive responsibility that has been absent at times this season.
Moving Ehrhoff was the next logical step in finding the right synergy with the extra man unit. If Ehrhoff is able to get more pucks through to the net it will certainly create opportunities, if not goals.
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