One of the first interesting decisions Ralph Krueger made as head coach of the Buffalo Sabres was to not start the season with Jack Eichel and Jeff Skinner on the same line. In theory, splitting up the two allows some balance in the lineup.
At the beginning of the season, it was working. Eichel’s line and Skinner on his line were scoring. Over the last few weeks, the Sabres top line has struggled at 5 on 5. They’ve had their games where they put the puck in the net, but not with consistency.