By Conor Thompson
In what now feels like a eternity, the Buffalo Sabres will be allowing a full house to KeyBank Center......... but will it be full? In the first regular season games at KeyBank Center the Sabres haven’t even performed in a half capacity house. The attendance for the home opener against the Canadians was announced 8,467. To put that into perspective, the Canadians farm team the Laval Rockets had over 10,000 specters for their home opener.
However, many people around the NHL know that Buffaloians never gave up on their Sabres, but felt the Sabres gave up on Buffalo. After a decade of losing seasons, lack luster handling of their captains injury and their biggest free agent signing for only $1,000,000, I don’t think there was ever a season I was looking forward to least in my 26 years.
But as the saying in sports goes, there’s a reason they play the game. The Sabres are off to a hot 3-0 record to start their season. But it’s not the record to focus on right now, it’s the performance. I never thought I’d say this but through the first week of the season the Sabres looked absolutely brilliant. The boys are finishing hits, possessing the puck and boy oh boy can they fly. It felt as if for 75% of each game the Sabres had possession.
Now of course its a little early to have any sense of postseason hopes, but there's nothing wrong with enjoying the product on the ice lately. Head Coach Don Granato seems to be pushing the Sabres in a good direction. A big thing to consider with this Sabres team is that they have no superstar this season which I think will benefit them. They can't rely on a handful of players to get the job done anymore. Everyone has to do the little things and this first week is a sign of hope.
The Buffalo Sabres know they have a lot of work ahead of them this season if they want to make Buffaloians feel good about their hockey team once more. A 3-0 start with dominating victories in each performance isn't a bad start. They will be welcoming former Sabres netminder Linus Ullmark and the Boston Bruins to KeyBank Center on Friday night.
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