The Sabres are finally getting some offense

Don’t look now, but the perennially moribund Buffalo Sabres are starting to show signs of life. After having only won five of their first 17 games, the Sabres have taken four of their last five and climbed out of the Atlantic Division’s basement (with special thanks to the swooning Toronto Maple Leafs). Most impressively, Buffalo has exploded offensively during this five-game stretch, with 25 goals scored over that span, including a nine-goal effort in their win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Leading the offensive charge for the Sabres is star center Tage Thompson, who has a goal in each of those last five games. His 12 goals on the season counts as the most on the team, and his 21 points on the season is tied for first on the team with Alex Tuch.

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton were joined by former Sabre and DFO Fantasy’s Matt Barnaby to revisit their prop-bet fantasy draft from the start of the season. In so doing, they discussed Thompson and the Sabres’ recent scoring pace, and the team’s outlook the rest of the way.

Carter Hutton: The one that I feel really good about right now, honestly, is the Tage Thompson one. I think the pace that he’s scoring, he’s on pace for 45 goals. He’s got 12 goals right now. I think this Buffalo Sabres team is going to weigh heavily on their superstars. They are in this must-win situation already. There’s desperate hockey. He’s going to be put in every good situation to succeed. He is a star. He finds the back of the net. He’s always on the ice 6-on-5 with the empty net, too. I think that is always something to take into effect when guys are scoring extra goals. He has an empty-netter yesterday in their win. He’s a guy for me who scores at will. I look for him to continually score. I don’t think the Buffalo Sabres are in the clear here just because they’ve won a couple of games and the Leafs are last in the Eastern Conference. But Tage Thompson, I think he gets to where he needs to be, beating 39.5 (goals on the season).

Tyler Yaremchuk: Matt, that’s obviously a team you follow pretty closely in Buffalo. What have you made of their first six weeks of the year?

Matt Barnaby: They were getting unbelievable goaltending at the start of the year. Alex Lyon, I think through the first eight games, had a like .924 save percentage, and they were losing because they couldn’t score goals. Now they’ve kind of flipped that switch a little bit and have been able to put up some goals, winning the last two. Beating Carolina and then putting up a nine-spot the game before. If they get consistent goaltending, they could go on a run. But are they good enough to consistently get a .924 save percentage? No. Are they consistently good enough to put up four or five goals a game? No. I’m not a believer in the Buffalo Sabres. I don’t think they make the playoffs.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…