BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – Lindy Ruff couldn’t help but crack a joke when asked about his team’s power play woes early this season.
“We’ll get one by the end of the year,” Ruff deadpanned after the Sabres defeated the Stars 4-2 on Tuesday.
“I liked it. I liked what we set up,” the veteran coach added. “We had two or three good looks. It’ll come.”
The Sabres are the only team in the NHL that hasn’t scored on the power play yet this season, opening the year goalless in 22 opportunities. With one shorthanded goal allowed, the team has been a net-negative on the man advantage through eight games (3-4-1 record).
Improving the power play was certainly on the to-do list for the new coaching staff after the Sabres finished 29th last season at 16.6%, their lowest mark since the last-place 2014-15 campaign (13.4%). While they haven’t broken through yet, the team does have a 20-16 goal advantage during 5-on-5 play.
The Sabres’ next chance to end their power-play drought comes at 1 p.m. Saturday when they host the Red Wings — owners of the league’s second-worst penalty kill unit (62.5%).
“We’ve lacked some details,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde told reporters this week. “We’re still in a problem-solving situation early in the year. I wouldn’t say alarming, but there were some poor trends with some simple detail with reliable guys. … You’re a little slow on rotation, you miss a clear, you miss a face-off assignment and if it keeps going in the back of the net it piles up.”
The Sabres’ eight-game power-play drought ranks as the fourth-longest streak in franchise history, according to data from NHL Stats and Information. The Sabres went 10 games without scoring on the power play to open the 2014-15 season, and matched that mark in 2017-18. The franchise record is 15 consecutive games without a power-play goal, set during the team’s record-tying streak of 18 consecutive losses in 2020-21.
Most of the league’s longest power play droughts date back to the early years of the NHL. The league said it tracks power play and penalty kill records only by consecutive games, not by consecutive power play or penalty kill opportunities. The league began tracking goals by type in 1933-34.
The all-time record for most consecutive games without a power-play goal is held by the 1936-37 Detroit Red Wings, who went 27 straight games without scoring on the man advantage, according to league data. The 1977-78 Cleveland Barons own the Expansion Era record, going 16 games without a power-play goal during their first season in existence.
If the Sabres don’t convert a power-play opportunity Saturday, their next chance will come Monday against the Panthers — the team they beat for their most recent power-play goal last April.
