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Sabres power play unit showing small sample signs of improvement

by Chad DeDominicis - 0

We’ve now witnessed four preseason games of mostly split/squad rosters. We shouldn’t get carried away with what we’re seeing in these games on the positive or negative side. Instead, we can look for signs of improvement in these small sample minutes within exhibition games, with the hope that it’ll carry over into the regular season.

One of the things that I’ve paid attention to was the Buffalo Sabres’ power play system. I wanted to see if I could identify changes in approach by Seth Appert and Lindy Ruff for this season. There are still issues with setting up the structure once they enter the zone, but hopefully that’ll improve with a full NHL roster.

Get to the Net

The first difference that caught my attention is that the Sabres are using the forward at the goal line in the structure more than they have in the past. A lot of nights, that player never touched the puck in the offensive zone with the man advantage.

What I’ve observed through the first few games is that spot is being utilized more. It opens their options on where the puck can go. We’ve seen a few chances generated off a play from below the goal line, and Noah Ostlund scored his goal against the Detroit Red Wings with a pass from Josh Doan.

It was easy for opponents to defend the Sabres’ power play last season. You knew where the players would be on the ice due to the lack of movement and the approach to take shots from the outside. So far, the player movement within the zone has been better and resulted in some high-quality chances.

I’ve also noticed the approach to cause chaos around the net and attack the net on shots from the outside, looking for second-chance opportunities. Doan’s power play goal against the Red Wings was the result of a broken play but two players still went to the net after the shot from Jack Quinn.

I sat behind the net during the game at home against the Blue Jackets, and players were collapsing to the net for pucks, instead of staying on the outside. This is another benefit of utilizing the player that is positioned at the goal line. They can go back high with the puck, pass to the middle, pass it cross-ice, or go to the net with the puck to cause that chaos.

The goal by Thompson against the Red Wings on Saturday was a good puck movement that eventually ended up on the stick of Norris at the goal line, and he went back cross-ice to Tage for an easy finish.

Not every power play goal needs to be a set play that looks nice in the highlight. A lot of goals come from scrambles around the net that the team with the manpower advantage can capitalize on.

I looked at play-by-play data from last season to validate where the majority of the goals on the power play come from when it relates to shot distance. I started at the highest level and worked my way down into more detail. The NHL average shot attempt shooting distance on the power play was 30.90 feet. The Sabres average 31.74 feet, which was the 22nd furthest average shot distance in the league during the 2024-25 season.

The data showed that 73% of the goals scored on the power play last season came within 30 feet of the net, and 51% came within 20 feet. When I split the data into buckets, here was the percentage of goals scored on the power play by distance:

  • 1-10 ft. – 30.57%
  • 11-20 ft. – 20.44%
  • 21-30 ft. – 22.47%
  • 31-40 ft. – 17.46%
  • 41-50 ft. – 6.14%
  • 51+ ft. – 2.92%

From this point, I wanted to see what percentage of the Sabres’ shot attempts came within these groups where the highest amount of goals are scored. Within 10 feet of the net, 16.64% of their shot attempts were from that distance, which ranked 24th in the league. They ranked 23rd in the league with 18.845 of their shot attempts in the 11-20 feet distance bucket.

In an interesting twist, they ranked fifth in the league with 22.71% of their shots coming in the 21-30 feet bucket. As you can see above, that’s the group where the second-highest percentage of goals is scored.

The takeaway here is that it’s a good sign to see the Sabres trying to get the puck to the area of the ice where a higher rate of goals are scored. It’s a clear indication that there has been a change of approach from the coaching staff. The hope now is that it’ll carry over into the regular season.

Data via: Evolving Hockey
Photo Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
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