@boosbuzzsabres
I'm not sure what this Buffalo Sabres team was thinking the other night in Edmonton. Perhaps they thought they were the much better team and after scoring exactly one minute into the game, the Oilers would roll over against a "superior" Sabres team?
Hmmmmm. Seems like that's happened before.
Flashback to December 8 when Buffalo was hosting the Philadelphia Flyers, a team they had steamrolled 5-2 the prior month. The Sabres were coming off what might have been their best game of the season in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs and were still feeling pretty confident while four losses removed (0-2-2) from their recent 10-game winning streak. Buffalo would carry that confidence and momentum into the Flyers game as Jack Eichel scored two goals in the first 12:02 of the game. It would be a cake-walk, right?
Not so fast there, hombre. Philadelphia scored just :50 seconds after Eichel's second goal to cut the lead to 2-1 and tied it in the second period before unloading four goals on the Sabres in the third for the 6-2 win. Buffalo's 10-game winning streak was officially in the rear-view mirror and it would get worse as that five-game winless streak would turn into a 6-11-4 post-streak slump.
As of today, the Sabres have now lost three in a row, eight of their last 12 and find themselves four points out of the second wild card spot in the Eastern conference after once being at the top of the league.
Look guys, this should be the last time anyone should have to say this, you're not that good. You cannot waltz into an arena thinking that you're all that and a bag of chips. In a league where parity reigns supreme outside of a handful of juggernauts, Buffalo is flawed just like 20 other teams in the middle of the pack. A hot streak here will move you forward and a cold streak there will set you back.
Plain and simple.
So not being focused and/or not giving your all and/or not sticking to the gameplan and/or not playing as a team to cover said flaws all the while thinking you're better than another team will get your ass so deep in the muck that you won't know how you got there or how the hell you're gonna get out of it.
Having said that, it's not like the Sabres have been playing terrible hockey game-in, game-out. They've had some good games along with some bad bounces but have had a myriad of things torpedo them in this stretch and unlike the streak, their goaltending tandem hasn't been bailing them out with timely saves and/or big games. It just hasn't been there lately and playing in Calgary tonight against a hot Flames club won't make things any easier.
Since the NHL schedule-maker made for a Sabres western Canada swing five years ago, Buffalo has been pathetic outside of the sweep they managed last year. Prior to their three wins vs. the Flames, Oilers and Vancouver Canucks last season, the Sabres are only 2-10-1 against those teams dating back to the 2013-14 season. They lost in Edmonton on Monday and against their next two oppoents Buffalo is 0-3-1 at Calgary and 0-4-0 at Vancouver.
Last year was remarkable in that the Sabres got some great goaltending from backup Chad Johnson who won 2-1 in overtime against Calgary to start the trip and from starter Robin Lehner who shut out the Edmonton Oilers (5-0) and the Canucks (4-0.) Nobody saw that coming, especially from a team that was well on their way to a last place finish in the league.
But Buffalo is already in the hole to begin this road trip as they got smoked 7-2 at Edmonton on Monday night. It seemed like everything that could go wrong against the Oilers did. The turnovers were egregious and they paid for every mishap. That's how you get players like Zack Kassian and Milan Lucic both doubling their goal production on the season with two goals apiece in the game. That's how a mishap in the Edmonton zone leads to a Connor McDavid breakaway goal. It's how the Sabres lost by five goals despite nearly doubling the Oilers 37 shot attempts.
However, there might have been more to that loss than Murphy's Law and a weird metrics aberration. Former Sabre Rob Ray was between the glass for his usual in-game analysis and at one point he mentioned something akin to the Sabres on-ice play being an extension of their prior practice, in that they seemed to have a lax attitude that carried over.
Regardless of what happened, it's over and Sabres bench boss Phil Housley is trying to move on from the game while using the video replay as a stepping stone to move forward."Obviously, we didn't like the way we played," he told the gathered media in Calgary yesterday. "To move forward sometimes you've got to take a step back. A lot of [the Edmonton game] was just the odd-man rushes and puck management. Just having a greater respect when we don't have the puck that something bad could happen. Obviously we didn't have enough respect yesterday and it cost us."
Whereas Edmonton was struggling while alternating between wins and losses after a six-game losing streak before meeting Buffalo, the Flames are smokin' hot. Calgary has won five in a row and eight of their last 10 (8-1-1) to keep pace with two Pacific division powers (San Jose and Vegas) who have also gone 8-1-1, and it's allowed the Flames retain their division lead. Meanwhile the Sabres are 3-6-1 in their last 10.
The only change we saw at practice yesterday was defenseman Lawrence Pilut back in the lineup for Nathan Beaulieu, but God knows they could really use a change in preparation and attitude. Housley said that he thought the pace of their practice was "really good" and that they'll need to put the Edmonton game behind them.
Making the right on-ice decisions is what cost the team dearly in that game and many other games as well. During the winning streak they had that Midas touch and it bred confidence. As things got rolling the more and more confidence they gained. However, that confidence may have crossed the line into hubris. It burst and when the levee broke it's now turned into a matter of survival in the ensuing flood and the Sabres are floundering.
That's where they are right now, just trying to keep their head above water and we should see some sense of desperation tonight and Friday night in Vancouver. At least we should hope to see that. If not, we're in more trouble with this club than we thought.
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