BUFFALO – In the waning minutes Tuesday, as the Stars pressed for another goal, Sabres center Dylan Cozens grabbed the puck inside the Dallas blue line with a chance to seal a victory and generate some much-needed confidence.
Cozens simply had to deposit it into the empty net 63 feet away to register his first goal this season. Instead, his shot hit the right side of the cage. Play continued, and winger Alex Tuch’s empty-net goal eventually secured a 4-2 win.
“Missing the empty net was probably the tip of the iceberg (Tuesday), could’ve pretty well put it away,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said of Cozens. “But (he) just has to stay with it.”
Through eight outings, Cozens has compiled an odd stat line: two assists and 27 shots on goal. Entering Friday’s games, that shot total ranked 18th in the NHL and first among goalless players.
“Just keep shooting,” Cozens said of how he responds to his goal-scoring struggles. “It’s going to go in eventually.”
Of course, Cozens, 23, will score again, perhaps as soon as this afternoon’s game against the Detroit Red Wings at KeyBank Center. When that elusive first one goes in, the floodgates might open.
But until the Yukon native registers the 67th goal of his five-year career, he will likely remain frustrated. After scoring a career-high 31 goals in 2022-23, he dropped to just 18 goals last season.
“There’s frustration,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said of Cozens’ drought this month. “I spent time talking to him. I talked to him (Monday) and we watched video together. I mean, he’s done a lot of good things.”
Cozens plays in just about every situation, including the power play, which hasn’t scored this season. The 18 minutes, 16 seconds of ice time he averages each contest ranks third among Sabres forwards, trailing only Tuch and center Tage Thompson.
“He plays a 200-foot game,” Sabres winger Jason Zucker said of Cozens. “For him, he’s playing both sides of the puck. He’s taking big faceoffs, he’s doing a lot of good things, he’s playing well. I think something a lot of guys have told him is he’s affecting games in a positive way right now, and he has from since the start.”
Still, Cozens, who’s in the second season of a seven-year, $49.7 million contract, knows he’s expected to score.
He’s notoriously hard on himself. Over the years, however, he believes he has matured and learned how to better deal with his own struggles or the team’s.
“I used to just get really frustrated and break sticks and stuff, but I’ve learned that that doesn’t help,” he said. “So everyone goes through stretches where the puck’s not going in, you’re not getting any bounces. Obviously, I’m not happy and I’m frustrated, but I think I’ve learned how to deal with it better.”
Right now, other Sabres forwards are dealing with goose eggs. Zucker, Zach Benson, Sam Lafferty and Jack Quinn also haven’t scored a goal.
Most players, even top scorers, endure two- or three-week scoring slumps over an 82-game season. But when one materializes at the beginning of the year, it’s magnified.
“I was reading an article on one of the players from around the league, the same situation where he talked about during the year you have one of these stretches and nobody really says too much,” said Ruff, who Sabres have won two straight games. “But because it’s at the beginning it gets noticed more.”
Quinn’s slump has been so noticeable he has been scratched once. While Cozens might be a bit snakebitten, his linemate, Quinn, 23, understands he hasn’t created enough offense. He has mustered just six shots on goal in seven games.
“Right now, it’s just listening to the coaches, what they want from me,” Quinn said. “I think they want a little better puck battles, things like that, so I think it’s not like I’m looking at my game and I’m like missing all these chances. I just think they’re not coming as much right now.”
Ruff said when he examines Quinn’s opportunities, he sees a player starting to put himself in position to score a dirty goal around the net.
“Sometimes to get on the board it might be one of those ones around that small area that gets you going,” he said.