I'm going to ramble on again.
A month after scoring 49 November GF, the Sabres reverted back to their 31 October GF clip and have only 29 December GF. Skinner was second in goals for November and same with Eichel now for December. To illustrate, Skinner-Eichel-Reinhart have combined for 18 GF this December with one game left to play. They contributed assists on each of the 4 GF gotten from the defense too. Further, Eichel-Reinhart assisted on
Sheary's lone ENG contribution in a 3-0 ANA win. Quick math, that's 23 of 29 December GF, or 79.3%, purely coming from top line offense. The fourth line of Girgensons-Larsson-ERod have chipped in an admirable 5 December GF, or 17.2%, scoring three counter goals and two more at the backdoor, while also regularly contributing to the top PK unit [3 PPGA (1st), 34 TS (7th), 91.2 PK% (1st)] of the NHL month. Again, some quick math leaves just 1 December GF, or 3.4%, unaccounted for and that's your lone middle-six contribution for the month among Sheary-Mittelstadt-Okposo and Thompson-Sobotka-Pommer: one
Mittelstadt goal vs ARZ, assisted by Sheary. Their only other "middle-six" points came from Sheary's previously mentioned ENG and Thompson playing with the two mainstay fourth-liners vs WSH, where Oshie deflected Thompson's shot to
Larsson at the backdoor for a tap-in. Elie has contributed nothing to the cause when rotated in either. This is all pitiful and redundant news to most, but somehow they're still riding this depth as if an Amerks winger couldn't possibly be any worse at scoring. Even if Smith and Olofsson only spark PP2 into contributing a few goals, that's something, not nothing. This is why I'll kindly tune out anyone who thinks an Amerks winger could possibly contribute less because, rather than a 4-5-3 December, it could have been better with just one more goal in any of these games swinging some points your way. It definitely won't matter in March and April if you piss away points now because you want to ride out major slumps, right? It's definitely rewarding players of deserving TOI, right?
The improvement or exceeding expectation season narratives shouldn't ignore that each of these points are seemingly required for them to consistently win: that the top-line creates 2+ GF every game; that the improved healthy defense, top PK, and stable goalies be flawless and can't possibly falter after normal game/growing pains like PIM, mistakes, bad bounces, etc.; or that the defense and fourth line have to provide all the depth scoring. Instead, it should continually be asked where the heck in this roster construction is there any semblance of consistent scoring/center/wing depth to make up for the nights when any of those aspects are absent and when is it going to be addressed before they piss away more points likely needed in the wildcard race. That includes the PP2 going dead quiet, because if you didn't already know, Skinner, Eichel, and Dahlin have 11 of the last 13 PPG scored since Nov.1 and all six in December. Those Amerks wingers don't create goals on their AHL PP opps, right, right?
***
Also, below are some monthly stat capsules (with poor notes) that I didn't feel like formatting or delving into further. Just play around with the calendar parameters on NHL.com if anyone's curious to look at them further.
- October: 12GP, 6-4-2, 14pts (t-11th); 31 GF (t-25th), 35 GA (18th); 0 SOW, 0 SOL; 364 SF (15th), 386 SA (21st); 9 PPG (t-9th), 45 PP (t-3rd), 20.0 PP% (17th); 8 PPGA (t-15th), 38 TS (t-14th), 78.9 PK% (15th); 49.0 FOW% (19th).
- Sheary, Okposo, Mittelstadt, Pommer combine to score 7 of the 9 PPG
- Risto 1+3 -10, Okposo 3+4 -6, Sheary 3+2 -7, Reinhart 1+3 -7
- November: 14GP, 11-3-0, 22pts (1st); 49 GF (t-6th), 38 GA (t-10th); 3 SOW (1st), 0 SOL; 466 SF (10th), 464 SA (t-24th); 7 PPG (t-21st), 38 PP (t-19th), 18.4 PP% (19th); 7 PPGA (t-4th), 39 TS (t-11th), 84.6 PK% (6th); 46.0 FOW% (30th).
- Eichel one goal
- Bogo 4+ TOI/GP bump
- Tage, ERod score 2 of 7 PPG; Skinner scores rest
- Dahlin +9, Okposo +8
- December: 12/13GP, 4-5-3, 11pts (t-24th); 29 GF (28th), 35 GA (t-8th); 0 SOW, 1 SOL; 390 SF (21st), 400 SA (t-14th); 6 PPG (t-19th), 36 PP (t-21st), 16.7 PP% (19th); 3 PPGA (1st), 34 TS (7th), 91.2 PK% (1st); 49.2 FOW% (17th).
- Eichel ten goals
- Dahlin 3+ TOI/GP bump
- Bogo another 1+ TOI/GP bump
- Up to three injured defense, recalls rotated in
- Eichel, Dahlin, Skinner combine for the 6 PPG
- Sobotka, Okposo each 0+0 -7
