By: Steven Vulpis At the time of writing this article, the Buffalo Sabres sit atop of the National Hockey League with a 6-1-1 record and 13 points. The season is long (The Sabres have 74 regular season games left) but there is hope that this team can continue their hot start and play their wa...

By: Steven Vulpis

At the time of writing this article, the Buffalo Sabres sit atop of the National Hockey League with a 6-1-1 record and 13 points. The season is long (The Sabres have 74 regular season games left) but there is hope that this team can continue their hot start and play their way into the playoffs. A key factor to the Sabres start has been their efficiency on the powerplay.

Currently, the Sabres are converting on about 35% of their powerplays, which is 15% above the league average. The offense has been red hot, averaging 3.625 goals per game. Some of the biggest offensive contributors have been franchise captain Jack Eichel who currently has 10 points, former number one overall pick and nineteen year old defenseman Rasmus Dahlin who leads the team with eight assists and Victor Olofsson, or as some people are now calling him Victor “Goalofsson”, who currently leads the team with six goals.

While the offense has been dominant to start, the team would not be in the position they’re in without Carter Hutton. Hutton who currently ranks as the league’s number one goaltender, has a 5-0 record in his five starts so far this season. He has also recorded two shutouts, and set the franchise record for most saves in a regular season shutout with 47 on October 17th against the Los Angeles Kings. Hutton also currently has the highest save percentage in the NHL, saving 95.3% of the shots he faces, and allows the lowest amount of goals per game in the league with his 1.39 goals against average. The 33 year old has experienced a resurgence in his career to start this season off, but if he continues to play like this for the rest of the season the Sabres will be a real threat throughout the season.

Although the Sabres have had an incredible start to this season, many fans are wary to get their hopes up due to the similar situation that occurred last season. In the early stages of the season last year, the Sabres went on a 10 game winning streak but still finished the season as the 5th worst team in the NHL. There are many reasons why Sabres fans should not expect another collapse like they saw last year, including new head coach Ralph Krueger and an additional year for the young players to grow and improve their skills.

The Sabres are not the only Buffalo team off to a strong start. The Buffalo Bills are 4-1 and currently hold possession of the first Wild Card seed in the NFL Playoffs. The start to the Bills season has been powered by their defense. The defense currently ranks 4th in the league in points allowed per game and 3rd in the league in yards allowed per game.

However, the offense will need to pick up some slack as it is currently only scoring 18 points per game, which ranks 25th in the league. If the offense can find their rhythm and start to score consistently then we should be in for a very exciting year of
Buffalo sports.