BUFFALO – In recent days, as the losses pile up and his frustration mounts, coach Lindy Ruff has often explained some of the Sabres’ problems in detail.
Sometimes as he goes on, occasionally pivoting to another area before he can be questioned about it, it almost sounds like Ruff’s venting.
Can you blame him? The Sabres take a seven-game losing streak (0-4-3) into tonight’s contest against the New York Rangers at KeyBank Center, the end of a five-game home stand.
They’ve dropped five of those games by one goal. In two of those, including Monday’s 6-5 shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings, they’ve blown multi-goal leads in the third period.
The Sabres, having converted just one of their 24 chances over the last nine games, spent nearly Tuesday’s entire 30-minute practice working on the power play.
With Monday’s game tied in the final minutes of regulation, the Sabres frittered away their second power play of the night, taking nearly two minutes to set up in the zone and generating nothing.
On Tuesday, after Ruff answered a question about the recent power-play woes, he paused before voicing his displeasure about how poorly they had just practiced.
“Let’s just be honest, I didn’t like today’s power-play practice,” he said. “We’re going to work on it again. This is something that we’ve got to fix. It was too slow, and I think that’s probably in the game, too. Let’s quicken things up. The next play isn’t there, the right play isn’t there quick enough for the group.”
Ruff said he told a few players on the bench “it’s not going to work this way.”
“We’re not gonna beat a … square peg in a round hole,” he said. “We’ve got to change that approach.”
More than a feeble power play has contributed to the Sabres’ sudden swoon following a strong 10-5-0 run. They often play tight and wilt under pressure. They regularly look disjointed and break down defensively.
Still, for as difficult a stretch as they’ve endured over the last two weeks, they’ve somehow stayed in the playoff chase.
Yes, they entered Tuesday’s schedule in 15th place in the Eastern Conference, one point out of the basement. But they also stood just three points out of the second wild card spot.
“That’s the way you got to look at it,” Sabres center Dylan Cozens said. “We’ve been on the streak we’ve been on and we’re still right there with everyone else. So it’s kind of lucky, but enough’s enough, and we can’t give up. There’s so many games left. Anything can happen still. We can’t get too down.”
If the Sabres get going again, they could certainly roar up the standings.
More on some of their recent problems is explained below.
The feeble power play
From Oct. 26 to Nov. 20, the Sabres converted 29.7 percent of their power plays (11 goals on 37 attempts) over 11 games, the NHL’s third-highest total during that stretch.
In their other games this season – their first seven and last nine – they’ve scored on just one of their 46 attempts!
In recent contests, they’ve clearly missed captain Rasmus Dahlin, their top defenseman and power-play quarterback. Dahlin has missed the last three games after suffering back spasms last week.
“When we had success, it was just about keeping it simple,” Cozens said. “I feel like Dahls is shooting everything from the top, and we were just getting tip goals, rebound goals. And then once it’s not going your way, you tighten up a bit and try to make the perfect play. It just doesn’t work.”
Ruff said when the power play was clicking, they entered the zone with about 70 to 80 percent efficiency. When they’ve struggled, if they do get the puck in, they often make the wrong play.
“The next play (after entering), you have to make the right decision,” he said. “Sometimes that’s back to the strong side point man right away. Depends on how the other team is killing. And that has to be quick, has to be efficient.
“Whatever that right play is, we’re not making it right now. There’s frustration with it. You can see that in the way they execute.”
Blown leads
The Sabres have led in five of the games during their skid. In the other two, they were shut out.
Last season, they regularly fell behind early and chased games. This year, they’ve grabbed early leads before falling apart
In last Tuesday’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche, they blew a four-goal lead and lost for the second time in franchise history and the first time on home ice.
“Once we have that lead we worry a bit about giving it away and feel that pressure of giving it away instead of pushing for that next goal and trying to find that next goal,” Cozens said. “We just panic a little bit, sit back and let them have their go at us in the offensive zone. It’s just never going to work.”
Ruff said the Sabres must “believe in what you’re doing.”
“Staying calm and communicating on the ice is a big part of the deal,” he said. “If you’re open, quick yell. If we’re breaking out and we want a D reverse, I want to hear your partner talking. Everything sort of just adds up.
“But I did think the last 10 minutes (Monday) we were a group that didn’t make the right decision very often. We needed to take a little more time with some of our breakouts, get open a little bit quicker like we did in the first two periods, come up the ice together and play in the offensive zone. That’s the best place to play defense.”
I really don’t want to see any quotes from Cozens.
He hasn’t done anything this year, and his avg. salary of $7.1 million for the next 7 years is a joke.
Quinn has done even less.
Peterka has been lost for 2+ weeks & seems disinterested in playing D.
Adams drafted all of these Smurfs, and once again left us with a “soft” team.
One of our best & biggest player’s (Tuch) doesn’t even hit anyone.
The Sabres would be even considerably worse if not for UPL.
Fire Adams already.
He doesn’t want to trade any of his prized “Smurfs”.
This team is undersized & their effort is inconsistent.
The PP and their spacing on the ice is dreadful.
And, it’s not Ruff’s fault.
I challenge Adams to respond to my post, but I know he won’t.