Monitoring the Buffalo Sabres play is one thing; monitoring the standings is quite another. This group has become so detrimental to company at this moment.
Why would you buy tickets for a game now if you haven’t done so before for the remainder of the season? For what reason would you spend money on a season ticket or minipack for 2024–2025? You adore hockey, but when will this franchise and team show its support for you in return?
During the second intermission of Saturday’s 3-1 loss to St. Louis, I received a response from one of my Twitter followers that encapsulates everything. I have no need to elaborate when @Kratzey16 did such a great job crafting it.
“It’s quite something. Just no reason to watch. It’s become unwatchable,” was his comment. “It is truly remarkable how the Sabres have gone from a super fun, really interesting team to watch to now becoming a super dull, boring, and lifeless team in one offseason.”Too bad to watch. That is a serious issue.
Local television ratings, ticket sales, and merchandise and concession sales will all suffer greatly. After all that, are we to fear what kind of internal salary cap Terry Pegula, the owner, would put General Manager Kevyn Adams under for the upcoming season?
(Note to owner: You previously mentioned a new Jumbotron for the upcoming season. You’d better not back down. There must be something to anticipate.)
This week, the Sabres will visit the area twice more: on Tuesday night against Los Angeles and on Thursday against Florida, the reigning Eastern Conference champion. If you’re a fan of Sam Reinhart or Matthew Tkachuk, you should definitely visit the Panthers, in my opinion.Why, then, would you travel to visit the Kings?
This season, the Sabres are 11-14-1 at home; over the previous two years, they were 28-34-5. With a.455 points percentage over that time, they rank 27th in the league. They are 27th in the league in goal average this year, a pitiful 2.62 goals per game at home. And that’s after accounting for that nine-goal spurt in December versus Toronto.
Eliminate that one, and the average falls to 2.36, behind everyone save the pitiful San Jose. In the last three home games—against Tampa Bay, Dallas, and St. Louis—the Sabres have managed just one goal. In the last ten games played downtown, they have only managed 20 goals.Buffalo has scored five goals or more in ten games this season, seven of which have come on the road. The only teams the Sabres have hit five against here, aside from Toronto, are Arizona and Ottawa.
After the game on Saturday, a visibly irate head coach Don Granato remarked, “Obviously it’s been different for us at home.” “I don’t want to dig into what I’m sensing at all. Sadly, that is the situation. We must move on, go on to the next one, and acknowledge that we must improve, particularly in this area.
