Over the past couple of seasons, I’ve heard a lot of talk about the Sabres and how they don’t play as well in front of opposing backup goaltenders. I started to take a mental note of every time this happened. In my mind, it seemed like the losses were adding up, and I started to believe this was a big problem for Buffalo.
This week I decided to do some research and figure just how poorly the Sabres have played against backup goaltender, just for the past two seasons. I was expecting to see a poor record when I finished, but the results were different than I anticipated.
After collecting some data, I found that the Sabres have actually performed very well against backups, especially during the 2011-12 season. Here is Buffalo’s record when facing backups since 2010:
2010-2011 13-7-5 3.24 .901 2
2011-2012 17-5-0 2.64 .903 0
2012-2013 3-4-0 4.75 .929 0
As you can see above, the Sabres have had a winning record against backups in recent years. They went 13-7-5 in 2010-11, winning just over half of the games played. Last year, the Sabres improved and posted a 17-5 record.
To break it down further, I have created a few charts that show a game by game look at exactly when the Sabres faced a backup and the result of that game.
These are games in which a backup goaltender started the game. I did not include games in which a backup came in because the started was pulled or injured.
Click on the tabs below to see a different year.
[tab:2010-2011]
10/16/10 L 4-3 
Marty Turco 38-41
10/20/10 W 4-1 
Chris Mason 38-42
10/29/10 L 4-3 (OT) Chris Mason 25-28
10/30/10 L 4-0 
Andrew Raycroft 34-34
11/10/10 W 5-4 (SO) 
Johan Hedberg 38-42
11/11/10 L 3-2 (OT) 
Martin Biron 29-31
11/13/10 W 3-2 (OT) 
Braden Holtby 24-27
11/15/10 W 4-3 (OT) 
Cory Schneider 35-39
11/19/10 W 4-1 
Jonathan Bernier 22-26
11/20/10 L 2-1 
Mike Smith 29-30
11/26/10 W 3-1 
Jonas Gustavsson 25-28
12/3/10 W 5-0 
Mathieu Garon 32-37
12/15/10 W 3-2 
Tuukka Rask 32-35
12/18/10 L 3-1 Mike Smith 22-23
12/21/10 W 5-2 
Curtis McElhinney 37-42
1/6/10 W 3-0 
Antero Niittymaki 19-22
1/8/10 W 2-1 (OT) 
Jason LaBarbera 30-32
1/20/11 W 4-2 Tuukka Rask 29-33
1/21/11 L 5-2 
Kevin Poulin & Nathan Lawson 26-38
2/13/11 L 7-6 (OT) Al Montoya & Mikko Koskinen 22-28
2/18/11 L 3-0 
Ty Conklin 25-25
2/20/11 L 2-1 Semyon Varlamov 28-29
2/26/11 L 3-2 (SO) 
Joey MacDonald 30-32
3/6/11 W 3-2 (OT) 
Jose Theodore 30-33
3/20/11 L 4-3 (OT) 
Anders Lindback 35-38
Totals: 13-7-5 GAA: 3.24 SV%: .901 (734-815)
[tab:2011-2012]
10/8/11 W 4-2 Jonathan Bernier 22-26
11/4/11 W 2-1 
Henrik Karlsson 42-44
11/18/11 W 1-0 
Brian Boucher 19-20
11/25/11 L 5-1 Curtis Sanford 28-29
11/29/11 L 2-1 Al Montoya 30-31
12/3/11 W 3-2 Anders Lindback 11-14
12/9/11 W 2-1 (OT) 
Scott Clemmensen 14-16
12/10/11 L 4-1 Martin Biron 32-33
12/26/11 W 4-2 Michal Neuvirth 19-23
2/4/12 W 4-3 (SO) Al Montoya 34-36
2/8/12 W 6-0 Tuukka Rask 7-10
2/19/12 W 6-2 
Brent Johnson 9-12
2/21/12 W 2-1 Kevin Poulin 35-37
2/24/12 W 2-1 (SO) Tuukka Rask 22-23
3/10/12 W 4-3 (SO) 
Ben Bishop 34-37
3/12/12 W 3-2 (OT) 
Peter Budaj 32-35
3/19/12 W 7-3 Dustin Tokarski 11-15
3/24/12 W 3-1 Josh Harding 34-37
3/27/12 W 5-1 Braden Holtby 12-15
3/30/12 L 5-3 Brent Johnson 25-28
3/31/12 L 4-3 Ben Scrivens 29-32
4/3/12 W 6-5 (OT) Ben Scrivens 39-45
Totals: 17-5-0 GAA: 2.64 SV%: .903
[tab:2013]
1/21/13 W 2-1 Ben Scrivens 18-20
1/25/13 L 3-1 Dan Ellis 40-42
1/27/13 L 3-2 Michal Neuvirth 22-24
2/7/13 W 5-4 (SO) Peter Budaj 34-38
2/10/13 L 3-1 Anton Khudobin 25-26
2/15/13 W 4-2 Anton Khudobin 22-26
2/21/13 L 3-1 Ben Scrivens 31-32
Totals: 3-4