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. 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 Jonah Williams Bengals Jersey . He made that dream a reality Wednesday night. Olt, who grew up in Branford, Connecticut, attended UConn and made a nearly 2 1-2 hour trek to Boston a handful of times to watch the Red Sox, belted a two-run homer, one of four hit by Cubs in a 16-9 rout that completed a three-game interleague series sweep. Anthony Munoz Jersey . Today, their baseball playing sons were reportedly traded for each other. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Cubs dealt minor league outfield Trevor Gretzky to the Angels for catcher Matt Scioscia. http://www.bengalsrookiestore.com/Bengal...-Finley-Jersey/. "Im not even that added up," the 39-year-old Australian replied. And to the Hall of Famers surprise, when all the math was done Sunday in the JTBC Founders Cup, she was the one posing for pictures with the big trophy. Jonah Williams Womens Jersey . Patrik Bartosak turned away 50-of-52 shots for the Rebels (28-26-4), who halted their losing streak at seven games. Trailing 2-1 after 40 minutes of play, Feser forced overtime with his second goal of the game at 5:35 of the third period. Andy Dalton Bengals Jersey . Henrik Samuelsson and Luke Bertolucci also scored for the Oil Kings, who are now 9-0 on home ice in the playoffs to cut Portlands series lead to 2-1. Chase De Leo and Mathew Dumba responded for the Winterhawks, who suffered just their fourth loss in their last 46 games, a string of success running all the way back to Jan.CHICAGO -- Brandon Jennings and Detroits big men helped the Pistons to a rare win in Chicago. Jennings scored 33 points and the Pistons beat the short-handed Bulls 92-75 on Saturday night for their fourth consecutive victory. Andre Drummond (14 rebounds), Greg Monroe (12) and Josh Smith (10) led Detroit to a 51-44 rebounding edge as the Pistons (10-10) stretched their road winning streak to four games dating to Nov. 24. It was Detroits first regular-season win in Chicago since Feb. 24, 2006. The Pistons previous victory at the United Center occurred during the 2007 playoffs. "Our defence really stepped up," Jennings said. "Everybody was talking, looking to rebound. Thats probably the best second half weve had all year." It was a season-low point total for the Bulls (8-10), who shot 33 per cent from the floor while playing without leading scorer Luol Deng. The small forward was sidelined by tightness in his left calf. Taj Gibson led Chicago with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Mike Dunleavy Jr. scored 16 and Carlos Boozer finished with 13 points. The Pistons outscored the Bulls 24-9 in the third quarter to break away from a first-half tie. "We had a hard time scoring, we had a hard time covering the (3-point) line," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "Its the challenge of the league. You have a good win, and then the thing that youre concerned with is how quickly everything can change." Chicago has lost seven of its last nine games, but was coming off a 20-point win over Miami on Thursday. "We lose a guy, and now youre starting a different group, then your bench changes," Thibbodeau said.dddddddddddd Deng is day to day. Already without star point guard Derrick Rose, the Bulls were missing their two best scorers, and it showed. Kirk Hinrich had five turnovers, four assists and four steals in 36 minutes. Marquis Teague had 10 points in 17 minutes. He came in averaging 10 minutes per game. After scoring 11 in the first quarter, Boozer didnt score again until the final two minutes. Gibson was especially active on the offensive glass. He battled for two offensive boards and a putback on one possession three minutes into the second quarter. Jennings made 12 of 22 shots from the floor, including a 5-for-8 performance from 3-point range. The Pistons shot 12 for 19 from beyond the arc overall. "He made plays when we really needed him to make plays -- and I think thats where hes evolving," Pistons coach Maurice Cheeks said of the 24-year-old Jennings. "We need him to play like and shoot the ball the way hes capable of shooting the ball." Kyle Singler scored 12 points for Detroit, and Josh Harrellson had 10. Detroit went 6 for 8 from 3-point range in the first half to make up for an inability to finish inside. The Pistons failed to convert a bunch of opportunities under the rim but the game was tied at 47 at halftime. NOTES: Both Gibson and Joakim Noah were whistled for technical fouls. ... Deng said an MRI revealed "everything is fine" with the injury. "My mindset is to be ready for the next game," he said. ... Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey left in the second quarter with a sore left knee and did not return. He finished with two points in 10 minutes. ' ' '