Coverage Issues Continue as Zucker Carries Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres fell victim to in-zone and rush coverage issues, losing to the New York Islanders, 4-3. The Sabres poured on the shot attempts and got another good game from forward Jason Zucker, but had mental lapses that similarly cost them in their other losses.

Buffalo started the scoring on a Dylan Cozens powerplay goal, giving the alternate captain his first goal of the season. Bo Horvat countered for the Islanders 40 seconds later, continuing a trend of quick goals given up by the Sabres after gaining the lead.

The second period was the Maxim Tsyplakov show, as the 26-year-old Islanders rookie dangled his way to a goal and had a behind-the-back pass on Kyle Palmieri’s tape on the powerplay to give New York the two-goal lead.

Zucker, who assisted on Cozens’ goal, scored Buffalo’s second in the third period to get the Sabres within a goal. A defensive lapse cost Buffalo again, as Jean-Gabriel Pageau beat the Sabres defenders to a loose puck next to Devon Levi for a tap-in goal.

Owen Power notched a third goal for the Sabres with the pulled goaltender, but it was too little, too late for the Sabres to complete the comeback.

Let’s turn to the grading system implemented last season to assign letter grades to each Buffalo Sabres player based on game performance. The letter grades are assigned based on statistical computation, since our eyes can deceive us, taking into account the following factors:

• Production
• Quality of offense
• Quality of defense
• Volume of offense
• Volume of defense
• Powerplay performance
• Penalty kill performance
• Penalties drawn and taken
• Role
• Minutes played

All game data via Evolving-Hockey.com

Studs

Jason Zucker

Grade: B+

Production: A

Offense: C+

Defense: B-

Powerplay: A

Penalty Kill: N/A

Jason Zucker has been a revelation of sorts for the Sabres this season, as, outside of the top line, he’s been Buffalo’s most consistent player. He is the team’s oldest player, and his veteran presence is proving to help the Sabres in multiple facets of the game.

After going 0 for 21 on the powerplay to start the season, Buffalo has now scored a powerplay goal in three straight games. Zucker has a point on all three, scoring two goals and registering an assist with the man advantage.

Tage Thompson

Grade: B-

Production: B-

Offense: A

Defense: D

Powerplay: A+

Penalty Kill: B+

Despite the shot quality surrendered while primarily playing against Bo Horvat’s line, Tage Thompson was dominant offensively yet again for the Sabres. It only resulted in an assist, but Thompson’s controlling play every time he is on the ice.

With the powerplay opening up, the shots will open up for Thompson as well. He had two shot attempts with the man advantage today that were both blocked. The big wind-up powerplay goal is coming, especially with the constant puck movement down low to Zucker and Cozens on the first unit.

Rasmus Dahlin

Grade: C+

Production: B-

Offense: A-

Defense: D

Powerplay: A+

Penalty Kill: D-

This is where the Sabres Grades drop off quickly. Dahlin showed his usual flashes of brilliance offensively, but the defensive lapses are hindering his grade overall. He was one of the few culprits of a defensive zone coverage mistake, as he ended up on the wrong side of Devon Levi by himself while Pageau tracked the puck and put it in the net.

His above-average performance says something, but the timeliness of his error was ultimately what did the Sabres in.

Duds

Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Grade: D+

Production: F

Offense: F

Defense: B+

Powerplay: D+

Penalty Kill: N/A

Buffalo’s fourth line was not reliable against the Islanders, and that was reflected in the time-on-ice. Nicolas Aube-Kubel saw only 6:09 of ice time in the game as the Sabres were down and chasing from the second period on.

Prior to this game, Aube-Kubel was the source of offense in his limited time on the line, so perhaps with more opportunity he can generate more.

Sam Lafferty

Grade: D+

Production: F

Offense: F

Defense: B+

Powerplay: N/A

Penalty Kill: N/A

Sam Lafferty has been a mainstay on the bottom of the Sabres Grades. He is pointless in 10 games and has created little-to-no scoring chances to suggest a change to that is coming any time soon.

If Jiri Kulich goes in the lineup Saturday in Detroit, it should be Lafferty coming out.

Dylan Cozens

Grade: C-

Production: C-

Offense: C-

Defense: D

Powerplay: A+

Penalty Kill: F

It’s tough to finally score your first goal of the season and still land in the “Duds” column. That’s what Cozens did though, as his powerplay performance was the only bright side to his game.

The penalty killing is becoming an issue again with Cozens, and the five-on-five offense is still lackluster. Playing on the wing today next to Ryan McLeod and Jordan Greenway did not help. It also did not last, as Cozens finished the game back at center between JJ Peterka and Jack Quinn.