Owen Power struggles mightily in the Buffalo Sabres loss to the Blue Jackets

Owen Power struggles mightily in the Buffalo Sabres loss to the Blue Jackets

Second straight game overtime loss four to3 had a three-2 lead in the third period. Lot to get to coming up recapping Sabres and Blue Jackets here on the Locked on Sabres podcast. You’re Locked on Sabres, your daily podcast on the Buffalo Sabres, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. What’s up everybody and welcome in to this Wednesday edition of the Locked on Sabers podcast. Thanks for making us your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcast. You could check us out and watch us on our YouTube channel where you can like and subscribe the show. You could also become a part of our Locked Onsavers text club. If you are not already, go over to joinsubtex.com/lockdownsavers and hit us up. Today’s episode of the podcast is presented by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Sneaky Jody Biosi here on a Wednesday following another 4 to3 overtime loss by the Buffalo Sabres. This time it was at home. This time it was to the Columbus Blue Jackets. This time it also featured a blown lead late in a game. So, we’ll get to all that came about from this game, some of the numbers from it. the fourth line having a tremendous effort. Michael Kessle Ring in his debut. Owen Power is on my mind a lot today as well. So, got this loss to talk about against Columbus. The Sabres through 10 games are 44 and two. and some pretty interesting stats or records going back in the last 10 years for the Buffalo Sabres that Saber Metrics on Twitter uh put together that this is kind of where the Sabres have been every year after 10 games. Sometimes they get to it in different ways, but four four and two this year 10 points after 10 games. Last year it was nine points after 10 games. Before that it was 10 points after 10 games. Two years before that it was 11 points. 10 points. I mean often it is 9 10 11 points. Very often there is the one year in 22 23 where they were seven and three but that kind of sticks out like a sore thumb. Like there are a couple seasons where they’re not in this area but for the most part 44 and two is about what the Buffalo Sabres have been through 10 games. Now, this one might be a little bit more frustrating because you might think the Sabres should have more than 10 points. And I think you would be right in thinking that, even if last night wasn’t their best effort. We’ll get to all that coming up here on the Lockdown Sabres podcast. Before we get to the game overall though, the final goal of the game, let’s really start at the very end. We can even work our way back a little bit as there was a lot of debate about what happened in threeon-ree overtime. What a goal that ends it miles at the end. Not in terms of like what a skilled goal by the Blue Jackets. It was what a goal. How could everybody on the ice for the Sabres look like they were doing the wrong thing? Because immediately after it happened, I tweeted something out and I texted something in our in our chat and I saw people blaming Owen Power, which is what I was doing. I saw people blaming Alex Tuck. I saw people blaming Yuri Koulik. Everybody getting blamed for that final goal where it all kind of goes wrong where two guys seem to be covering the same spot. They leave the middle of the ice wide open. That’s an area the Sabres have struggled with, I would say, all season is the middle of the ice and then it’s a two-on-one. Well, it’s really more than that. It’s a twoon because Power had zoned out for half a second, allowed Miles Wood to get behind him. He hadn’t taken him out on the wall before that. So really, if Power, who was in a one-on-one rush with Power with Wood backing up, had taken Wood out on the side of the on the boards, then him zoning out for half a second probably wouldn’t have mattered. But he didn’t do that. And then he lost track of the play. He got caught watching the puck for half a second too long. Wood got in behind him and Power didn’t have the skating or the strength to make up for that and it ended up in the back of the Sabres net and they lost the hockey game. So, I looked at that and blamed Power. Lindy talked about the goal a little bit after the game and at the very least what he did is he absolved Alex Tuck and I think that’s probably right to do upon, you know, watching back this goal. I think Yuri Koulig really leaves Tuck out to dry. Tuck thinks Koulik’s gonna cover the middle of the ice because that’s where Koulique should have been. That’s where he should have been guarding. So the only reason Tuck looks like the nearest, you know, player that made a mistake because he is the nearest player to the man who takes the pass in the middle. He’s only there because he’s making up for the mistake that Yuri Koulique has made. So if you look back on that goal, I think Koulik could be blamed. I think Power could be blamed. Really, both of them should be blamed after that goal. And I I watched last night’s game and I’m thinking more about Owen Power right now because I’m in a different place with Power right now than I have been really his entire career. I have very often, in fact, if you listen to me enough and you follow me enough, like I’m never one to really go after Owen Power. Very rarely. 251 games in the National Hockey League. And I think it took until his 251st game for me to really snap on him. But last night I was just the whole night. I got group I got I got our group chat. I mean could can show you that I just wasn’t I something was off to me the whole game and I was mentioning it to people in the second and third period like I don’t know man he doesn’t look right to me. He doesn’t look healthy. He’s not skating the same. I don’t even care about the physicality part of it because that part we know has never really been a big part of his game and I’ve never really worried about that too too much. Um, but I’m like, he’s not really skating right and that’s weird. He’s usually somebody that you could trust in open ice and you know I I just something looks off to me and then sure enough he’s you know making these little mistakes which I guess are more mental than physical. So is that really even part of well is he healthy? Because that’s my question about Owen Power right now is is he healthy? But I’ve always defended him and having a big impact on this team even one that is maybe sometimes tough to see. I think he gets way way way way too much criticism from fans. I think he is a polarizing player and I understand why he’s a polarizing player. He was a number one overall pick. He is 6’5. He is pretty soft for his size as a defenseman. But I think that that is all kind of secondary to the type of impact he can have when he is out there controlling a game, shutting plays down, making smart passes, joining rushes when he does, uh, opening things up for others on the offensive zone, getting a puck out of his own end. Like, I think there are so many nuanced areas of his game that make a substantial impact that you have a really good defenseman in Owen Power. And I don’t think he often gets enough credit for how good of a player he is. I don’t necessarily believe that’s happening this season. He’s been okay at times this year. He’s had some really good games. I think last night was an example of maybe a really bad game from Owen Power. Um the the turnover earlier in the game that got a lot of people’s eyes, right? Um the deflected goal that ties it. Five minutes to go. He’s the defenseman standing in front of the net. I saw a couple complaints about he really should have attacked um the blue jacket forward that ends up deflecting it and he should have tied him up. I I don’t think he should have done that personally. I think his assignment it was Miles Wood again by the way. Miles Wood’s the one who deflects it. Um I don’t think he should have attacked Wood there because I think that just causes more traffic in front of Alex Lion. I don’t know. Like that’s one I’d want to ask Lindy about cuz I could see the argument for no no don’t don’t throw another body in front of your goalie and further block him from seeing a puck. Um stay where you are and wait for the rebound. That one might be defendable. But the turnover earlier the early in the game and then the missed assignment on the three and three overtime goal. Those are obviously two really bad plays. He almost on the I think it was the Josh Don goal. He keeps it in at the line, but he he had the effort to do that because he kind of fumbled the puck around and the Sabres end up scoring on that play. It almost didn’t happen because he took a pass wide open at the point and for some reason, this is again like where I think he might not be 100% healthy. He looked a little offbalance to me and he almost tripped himself up and lost the puck at the line and almost was offside, but it wasn’t and then the play stayed in the end. Didn’t end up scoring on that. Um, I don’t know, these little examples of power not looking right to me. Um, I’m seeing more so yesterday, but I’m seeing them sprinkled in in the last couple of games as well. Again, some of the numbers don’t look fantastic. Some of them look okay. Last night was not one of his stronger efforts. He had a 29% expected goals for percentage at even strength according to evolving hockey. I mean, those are some of the numbers that Power usually looks very strong in that somebody would use as a defense for, hey, I know you didn’t like these couple plays from Power last night, but look at the numbers. Look at this. And you’ll see that he actually did okay. That wasn’t the case last night. And could have been a little bit of him and Connor Timonss. I think they had a pretty tough game together. Um, and maybe that pairing gets split up going into the next game, but I’m just saying keep an eye on Owen Power because he had a big injury during the off season. He had a little injury again during training camp. He’s been practicing. He’s been playing. There isn’t anybody official that has said that he is hurt. I’m just saying I’m keeping an ear out. I’m keeping an eye out because something just doesn’t look right to me with Owen Power. And so far this year, we’re very early on in those evolving hockey player cards and goals above replacement numbers, but um he he’s in the 19th percentile as a defenseman on that site so far this year. Again, very very limited. Take that with a grain of salt. Um we’re only nine games, 10 games into the season. Last year though, we’re talking about a guy that’s often in the 80th percentile or higher. So, I don’t know. Owen Power, keep an eye on it. When we come back, how the lead got blown, what else happened in the game? the fourth line kessle ring. Lot to get to coming up here on the Locked On Sabres podcast. Today’s episode of the Locked On Sabres podcast is presented by Game Time. Hockey season officially here. Nothing beats being in the arena for those that opening games. But let’s be real, getting tickets can be a total headache. Between waiting and cues, surprise fees, prices that jump right before checkout. 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Swipe, tap, ticket, go. 43 Blue Jackets over the Buffalo Sabres last night at Key Bank Center. Next up, Boston on the road. And then a couple more home games back at Keybank Center. Josh Don scores his third goal of the year. Gritty goal in front of the net. He had one swipe at it. It was saved by Jet Greavves. He bangs away at it again and uh he gets it in for his third of the year. Ryan Mloud also scored his third of the year. That one was a little bit more lucky. It’s a wrist shot from the wall. It hits a defenseman in front. Deflects in. All right, you take that. Um Josh Dunn, he gets his first NHL goal of his career. And I’m glad to see that that did happen because that line deserved a goal last night. The Buffalo Sabres fourth line last night was as good as any fourth line I’ve seen for the Sabres in multiple years. I mean, maybe going back to the log line of Johan Larson, Kyle Poso, and Zus Gurgensson’s, that line last night was all over the Blue Jackets. every time they were on the ice, they were possessing the puck in the offensive zone. They were doing a pretty good job of getting it out of their own end and blocking shots. Um, I mean, you look at the numbers and some of that is true as well, but Josh Dunn last night when he was on the ice, the Sabres outshot the Blue Jackets 9 to7. Um, they score outscored him one to nothing. Obviously, the expected goals for was uh 97 to43. So, it’s 69% which is very solid. scoring chances were eight to six and they’re often going up against sometimes the second line, the third line and they outplayed him when they were out there. High danger scoring chances here might be the best one. High danger chances when Josh Dunn was on the ice last night were five to one in favor of the Sabres. I mean he would get the puck and would shield guys off, spin around, throw wrist shots on the net. Like a lot of good smart plays, gritty plays. His goal was a gritty play, right? That is just guys crashing the net and finding a way to jam that thing home. So, credit to them. And Dunn gets a goal. Part of this, by the way, is why Mason Gearson should have never been in the lineup. Hey, look, a game where your fourth line actually contributed in a big way, which is impossible when you’ve got the fighting goon who can’t actually play the sport playing two to three minutes a night. And now the other two guys don’t end up playing all that much because they don’t really have a third linemate. Josh Dunn enters the picture and he’s not an all world he’s not a a world beater but you know he’s a hockey player. He’s a real hockey player and he’s a bigbodied physical hockey player that could do some of the physical stuff but also could actually play the sport and you could have a game like that last night where him and Malenstein and Krebs are just all over you. Never going to happen with Gearson. Gearson should be waved today and should never see the Buffalo Sabres ice again. And last night’s a key example of why you should never see him on the ice again for the Buffalo Sabres. Um, three to two or you’re up three to two. Six minutes to go. It’s the second game in a row. And this is where the game can be frustrating because should they have won? Uh, it’s it yes and no. Yes, because they had a lead with six minutes to go and you want to close that thing out. No, because they really got outplayed. LA last night to me was different than Saturday. I thought Saturday in Toronto, the Sabres were the better team. Last night I thought the Blue Jackets were the better team. The Blue Jackets had the puck more often. Uh they had the better of the chances. Um I thought that the line with Carl Marenko right at the top was pretty much buzzing every time they were out there on the ice. They were establishing possession and getting a lot of chances on the Sabres when they were out there. Um 15 to9 were shots by the way last night for Columbus when Marchenko was on the ice and Veronov was on the ice. I mean they were they were really solid. They were getting chances in front of Alex Lion. Another game where right at the start a lot of this happened at the beginning of the game. Shots were 11 to1 at one point. We’ve seen that story already multiple times this year. So that’s not great. Um the some of the numbers on the to the total of the game five on five shot attempts were 73 to 61 Columbus um shots were at five on five 36-34 Columbus scoring chances 37 to 26 high danger chances 17-9 Columbus expected goals 3.6 to 2.6 six. They were the better team. They were the better team on the night. So, when you look at it, it’s like, okay, did the Sabres deserve to win? Yes and no. That’s where I end up being with it. Um, but you got to get those games home. You’re going to have some games where, hey, we didn’t play our best, but oh, look, we got the lead. And different type of goal than Saturday. Saturday was all lucinan. Lukan and allowing a softy that should have never found the back of the net from Dakota Joshua last night is a play where it’s kind of a bang bang play. Um it’s a it’s a wrist shot from the point. It’s Miles Wood with a really good deflection in front. I mentioned earlier that I don’t even really know if I want power attacking Miles Wood there, but I guess in hindsight you would say yes. I don’t really expect Lion to make that save. It’s just kind of a play that happens. the the biggest criticism you could have and we had a caller on WGR this morning mention this that one thing you would have wanted to see is Josh Don attack the point man and I guess watching it back that is true. Josh Don is in front of the point man and he’s pretty hesitant to go out and challenge him. He kind of stands there stick between his between his feet trying to block it while standing. Um and he’s not able to do that because he’s not taking up a lot of space. That is probably the play. The the the most criticism you could have is Don’s got to attack that defenseman and he’s got to not allow him to get a clean shot off in the first place. Deflect it away, poke it off his stick because he did give that guy a lot of time to shoot it. So mild criticism I guess of Dona that play only. Um but I guess that would have been that would have been the the one play that they could have made. So it’s just kind of a goal that happens. It’s not about lying. It’s not about power on that one. Even Don like it’s kind of a minor critique on that goal. It just kind of happens. The big it’s three on it’s really yesterday was three on three overtime. It was a story about threeon-ree overtime there. Yuri Koulik Yuri Kik like he he’s he’s another guy to blame here. He has a breakaway in overtime and he’s not able to score on it. He is the number one center. They need him to score goals like that. And then he comes down on the other end and he’s the guy that makes the critical mistake that allows the Blue Jackets to um to go in on a on an oddman rush. So Kik is to me more to blame yesterday than a guy like Don on that one individual play or Lion who doesn’t make the save. Um Kik Power, those are the guys to really look at. Michael Kessler quickly. Um Michael Kessler I thought was really impressive in his first game for the Buffalo Sabres. I thought he looked comfortable with the puck. He looked physical in front of the net knocking guys down. He looks like a good skater. He was able to skate the puck out of his own end a couple of times. Um he looked comfort comfortable. He didn’t look like he was inhibited by any injury. Maybe that was adrenaline first game with a team, first game back. Um but I liked Kessle Ring a lot. And um the numbers bear that out. You want the numbers on him. He had 23 to 20 shot attempts for the Sabres when he was out there. They outshot Columbus 9 to7. They outscored him one to nothing. Um yeah, he it was a solid solid effort from Michael Casturing. good first game and I would put him with power next game. Get get right to it. That was supposed to be the pairing. Last night you had Timonss with power. It didn’t look good. There there’s your opportunity. Put Castle Ring back up with him like you had planned in the first place. All right, that’s going to do it for us today here on the Locked On Sabres podcast. Tomorrow we’ll talk Bruins. The Bru Bruins hosting the Sabres tomorrow night. A team at the bottom of the standings. You got to win like games like that if you’re going to make the playoffs. We’ll talk to you tomorrow here on the Locked On Sabres podcast. Lot of hockey last night in the league. If you want the rundown, check out Locked on NHL game night. All of those 16 games that happened, a lot of goals um of course around the league, over a hundred of them actually. Check out Locked on NHL game night wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube. Talk to you tomorrow here in the Lockdown Savers podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

The Buffalo Sabres had another lead, late in the third period, and again squandered it, this time to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Sneaky Joe looks at Owen Power’s performance from Wednesday night, which featured turnovers, a mistake on the game winning goal, and a question of whether he’s even 100% healthy right now.

Plus, Jiri Kulich’s mistakes on the final goal, a great performance from Josh Dunne and the fourth line, and Michael Kesselring shining in his Sabres debut.

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