The plethora of injuries to the Buffalo blueline had them with a top pairing of former first-overall selections in Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power. They often say too much of a good thing is bad, and that is the case for the Sabres.
There is no doubt that these two are the best two defensemen on this team but putting Dahlin and Power together leaves the team’s depth depleted and holds them both back.
The importance of Mattias Samuelsson and Henri Jokiharju
Thankfully, both Mattias Samuelsson and Henri Jokiharju are back for the blue-and-gold. With their first game back, the Sabres finally broke their eight-game losing streak with a win over Montreal.
The return of Samuelsson and Jokiharju made a drastic impact on this Buffalo roster. In the first 35 seconds of the Sabres’ win over Montreal, Dahlin found the back of the net. This is a player who broke the NHL record for scoring five goals in the first five games of the season this year playing alongside Samuelsson. He scored just two in the 10-games without Samuelsson alongside him. Dahlin has six goals in the eight games Samuelsson has played in this year.
Samuelsson has yet to register a point in his eight games this season, but that is not his game. He is a shutdown defenseman and allows his partner Dahlin to join the offensive play.
While Power has not scored yet this season, he is still on pace for a 40-point season, not too bad for a 20-year-old. What makes Owen Power so special is his ability to create plays with the puck. Having Dahlin as his d-partner decreases his time with the puck on his stick, and forces both Power and Dahlin to play differently.
Both these guys love to play in the offensive zone, and they are both game-changers with the puck on their sticks. Keeping them separated at 5v5 play will allow them to join the play fully and not have to worry about covering for the other.
Power in numbers
Fans can talk all day as to why the team collapsed and found themselves on an eight-game skid, but the biggest reason was the injuries to the back end. Before the losing slump, the Sabres averaged 2.6 goals against per game. However, the Sabres averaged 4.6 goals against in the losing streak.
With Dahlin and Power together, the Sabres were forced to pair depth defensemen together. Players like Jacob Bryson, who has a plus-minus of -13, saw an increase in ice time as well.
Splitting up Dahlin and Power increases the time of having at least one of them on the ice. Once they are together, more than half of the game is spent with both of them on the bench for Buffalo.
Where do the Sabres go from here
I talked about it in my post on what needs to happen for the Sabres to make the postseason, they need to stay healthy. This team does not have the depth to lose players and expect to stay in hockey games.
It’s tough to label each game a “must-win” in November, but if the blue-and-gold want to claw their way out of the basement of the Atlantic Division, they need to start stringing together some wins.
Comment below if you think Power and Dahlin should be paired up again if injuries happen again to this Sabres team.
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