The Buffalo Sabres, the worst team in the league last season, werent expected to be better this season, but is it possible theyre even worse? Scott Cullen looks at the Sabres struggles, Bostons slow start, Tampa Bays stars and encouraging signs from a Florida rookie in Tuesdays Statistically Speaking. Cleveland Browns Sione Takitaki Jersey . DUCKS DESTROY SABRES In another lopsided contest, the Buffalo Sabres fell 5-1 to the Anaheim Ducks. Shots were 44-12 in favour of Anaheim, with the Ducks getting 73 overall shot attempts to the Sabres’ 33. This was a rout. Ducks rookie C William Karlsson scored his first two NHL goals and had a team-high eight shot attempts (6 SOG) in 14:01 of ice time. Karlsson, a second-round pick in 2011, has the edge on Rickard Rakell for Anaheim’s third-line centre job. Ducks RW Jakob Silfverberg assisted on both of Karlsson’s goals and Karlsson and Silfverberg had a ridiculous game in terms of puck possession, both on for 20 shot attempts for and one against (95.2%) at even strength. Sabres D Andrej Meszaros continues to get buried. He was on for 20% (5 for, 20 against). Through three games, he’s been on for 21 shot attempts for and 69 against (23.3%). How bad are the Sabres? Through three games, they are sitting at a league-worst 34.0% Corsi (31.7% in close game situations). Last season, when the Sabres were clearly the worst team in the league, they had possession numbers in the 41.0% range during 5-on-5 close situations. All this abysmal play comes in the name of securing the services of Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel, apparently. More: Ducks LW Patrick Maroon left the game with a lower body injury after a hit by Sabres D Josh Gorges. Matt Beleskey replaced Maroon on left wing with Getzlaf and Perry…Ducks C Ryan Kesler won 16 of 20 draws (80.0%)…Sabres D Josh Gorges had eight shot attempts, seven were blocked and one missed the net…Sabres continue to make 19-year-old D Nikita Zadorov a healthy scratch… The Ducks’ defence pairing of Cam Fowler and Ben Lovejoy were both on for better than 85% of the shot attempts at even strength. LAST-SECOND WIN Avalanche RW Daniel Briere scored the game-winning goal in the final second of the third period in Colorado’s 2-1 win Monday afternoon. Briere played 17:57 in the game, a total he surpassed twice in 69 regular-season games with Montreal last season. LW Alex Tanguay (19:38) and C Nathan MacKinnon (18:10) were the only Avs forwards to play more than Briere. Bruins RW Seth Griffith played 16:10 in his NHL debut for Boston, skating with David Krejci and Milan Lucic. It was also Krejci’s first game of the season, as injury kept him out of the first three. The Bruins have managed four goals in four games, and while it does need to be noted that Krejci missed the first three, the Bruins aren’t generating nearly as many attempts in the early going. Bruins Declining Shot Attempts YEAR CF/60 LG RANK 2011-12 59.8 1 2012-13 61.7 2 2013-14 58.3 6 2014-15 47.9 22 CF/60 - Shot attempts per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 play. That inability to generate shots has apparently been some cause for concern as the Bruins have signed LW Simon Gagne, demoting both Jordan Caron and Bobby Robins to the AHL. While Gagne’s production had declined – 29 goals, 73 points in 135 regular-season games over his last three seasons (2010-2013) – he’s remained a positive possession player. More: Avalanche G Reto Berra stopped 27 of 28 shots for the win; Bruins G Niklas Svedberg stopped 28 of 30 shots…Avalanche D Tyson Barrie had a team-high seven shot attempts (4 SOG)… Bruins C Patrice Bergeron played 15:41 – the second time in four games that he’s played fewer than 16 minutes. LIGHTNING STRIKE CANADIENS, OVER AND OVER AGAIN Lightning D Victor Hedman and C Steven Stamkos highlighted an impressive 7-1 Lightning win over the visiting Montreal Canadiens. Hedman had a goal and three assists and is the league’s leading scorer with seven points in three games. That pace is obviously not going to continue, but Hedman turned up his offensive contribution last season and that has continued early this year. Stamkos had a hat trick with 12 shots on goal (14 shot attempts). Hurricanes LW Jeff Skinner is the only player in the past three seasons to record more than 12 shots on goal in a game (13 vs. Buffalo March 13, 2014) and it has happened a total of 13 times in the past 10 years. Canadiens G Carey Price was yanked after allowing four goals on 23 shots through two periods. Dustin Tokarski surrendered three goals on 18 Lightning shots in the third. That the Lightning, already holding a three-goal lead, put 18 shots on the Habs’ net was indicative of their total game dominance. Lightning D Radko Gudas had team-leading possession stats (18 shot attempts for, 8 against, 69.2%) despite starting 25.0% of his even-strength shifts in the offensive zone. He spent much of his night matched against the Canadiens’ top line and held his own (9 for, 8 against), but didn’t allow a shot attempt against in all of his other shifts. More: Ben Bishop stopped 16 of 17 shots… Lightning RW Ryan Callahan and C Vladislav Namestnikov had a goal and an assist…Lightning RW Nikita Kucherov picked up a couple of assists. FRIENDS AND FAMILY IN FLORIDA Craig Anderson stopped all 30 shots he faced in a 1-0 Senators win at Florida, in front of a (generously) announced crowd of 7,311. The Panthers’ line of LW Tomas Kopecky (14 shot attempts for, 4 against), C Derek MacKenzie (12 for, 5 against, 70.6%) and RW Jimmy Hayes (13 for, 5 against, 72.2%) had a strong possession game, with their biggest difference-making shifts coming against Ottawa’s second line of LW Bobby Ryan, C Mika Zibanejad and RW Alex Chiasson, who all finished under 27% possession for the game. Panthers rookie D Aaron Ekblad played 23:24, second only to Brian Campbell (26:23) among Florida’s skaters. Being paired with Campbell certainly helps, but the first three games of Ekblad’s career have yielded positive results, including strong possession stats (45 shot attempts for, 37 against, 54.9%). More: Roberto Luongo stopped 22 of 23 shots…Senators D Erik Karlsson recorded a game-high seven shot attempts (4 SOG), playing a game-high 27:23...Senators scratched D Jared Cowen and rookie forwards Curtis Lazar and Mike Hoffman. Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com, www.puckalytics.com, www.hockeystats.ca and www.naturalstattrick.com Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca Stitched Cleveland Browns Jerseys . Lowry and the Raptors officially announced a four-year US$48 million dollar deal Thursday. The deal was reported last week but couldnt be made official until Thursday, when the moratorium on signings was lifted. "They were real factors. I did my homework. Authentic Cleveland Browns Jerseys . Nat Borchers headed in the sole goal in the 54th minute, getting on the end of a Kyle Beckerman free kick. The defeat cost Sporting top spot in the Eastern Conference. Even a draw would have moved the Kansas City club above Columbus. http://www.cheapbrowns.com/ . Its not intended to be some magical formula and doesnt apply any context, like, for example, taking injuries into account. This remedial statistical method has gone 9-5 in picks through the first three rounds. SAN JOSE, Costa Rica -- Goalkeeper Keylor Navas and forwards Bryan Ruiz, Joel Campbell and Alvaro Saborio head the list of players named Monday to Costa Ricas preliminary 30-man squad for next months World Cup in Brazil. Coach Jorge Luis Pinto resisted naming any major surprises in the lineup and is using the same core of players who helped Costa Rica to qualify as the top team from the CONCACAF region. Pinto said he was happy to stick with his proven players and valued continuity in the team. "If we have to make changes, we will when the time comes," Pinto said. He said he will name his final 23-man squad on May 31, before the team travels to the United States for friendlies against Japan and Ireland. Pinto also confirmed that defender Bryan Oviedo of Everton will miss the cup with a broken left leg. Oviedo was injured in January and was not able to recover sufficiently to make the team. Costa Rica will be a heavy underdog to advance from a group containing England, Italy and Uruguay. The Central Americans will be appearing in their fourth World Cup, but merely picking up a point or two will be difficult against three teams near the top of the FIFA rrankings with seven World Cup titles between them. Cheap Cleveland Browns Gear. Knocking one of the European giants out of the World Cup and matching its achievement of reaching the round of 16, which happened in 1990, would be a major accomplishment. ------ Squad: Goalkeepers: Keylor Navas (Levante), Patrick Pemberton (Alajuelense) Daniel Cambronero (Herediano), Esteban Alvarado (AZ Alkmaar). Defenders: Johnny Acosta (Alajuelense), Giancarlo Gonzalez (Columbus Crew), Michael Umana (Saprissa), Oscar Duarte (Bruges), Waylon Francis (Columbus Crew), Heiner Mora (Saprissa), Junior Diaz (Mainz 05), Christian Gamboa (Rosenborg), Roy Miller (Red Bulls), Kendall Waston (Saprissa). Midfielders: Celso Borges (AIK), Christian Bolanos (Copenhagen), Esteban Granados (Herediano), Michael Barrantes (AAlesund), Yeltsin Tejeda (Saprissa), Diego Calvo (Valerenga), Jose Miguel Cubero (Herediano) Carlos Hernandez (Wellington Phoenix), Ariel Rodriguez (Alajuelense), Hansell Arauz (Saprissa). Forwards: Alvaro Saborio (Real Salt Lake), Bryan Ruiz (PSV Eindhoven), Joel Campbell (Olympiacos), Randall Brenes (Cartagines), Marco Urena (FC Kuban Krasnodar), Jairo Arrieta (Columbus Crew). 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