Sabres blow lead, lose seventh straight game: ‘We need to look in the mirror’

BUFFALO – In the most difficult of times, the reflex is to look for positives. But coach Lindy Ruff has stressed to his reeling Sabres that when they can’t notch victories in the standings, they can’t succumb to moral ones.

Ruff said everyone must do a little more. Nothing comes easy in the NHL.

The Sabres, having lost seven straight games (0-4-3) after imploding late again Monday’s 6-5 shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings, have completely fallen apart in the last two weeks after seemingly turning a corner last month.

Detroit limped into KeyBank Center on a wretched 0-3-2 run and left having overcome a two-goal third-period deficit to snatch a much-needed win from the Sabres.

Right now, nothing short of a win should satisfy the Sabres.

“We need to look at it straight in the face, honestly,” veteran winger Jason Zucker said of the Sabres’ sudden skid. “I think we need to know that it’s seven in a row. We need to look in the mirror and go get after it. There’s no reason to sit here and be like ‘Oh, we’re doing this.’

“We’ve lost seven in a row. We’re not playing well. We’ve got to, again, look in the mirror and understand where we’re at and at what point in the season we’re at here.”

Zucker, 32, is the Sabres’ oldest and most experienced skater. His words hold weight. So when he says “there needs to be more urgency out of the guys,” it means something.

Earlier in the season, the Sabres often talked about not losing two or three games in a row.

“We’re at seven,” Zucker said. “So we’re not doing a good job of holding ourselves accountable to that.”

These days, no lead feels safe. Remember, the Sabres went up 4-0 and lost 5-4 last Tuesday to the Colorado Avalanche.

The Sabres scored two goals and allowed just one in the second period, a significant development. Opponents had outscored them 9-0 in the middle period in their last nine outings.

“That for me was kind of a telling point, again, where we’ve had tough second periods but then you bounce back and play the period you play,” Ruff said. “I felt pretty good about where we were at.”

Still, when they began the third period up 5-3 thanks to Zucker’s second goal and third point of the night late in the second, it felt like Detroit would make things interesting.

Andrew Copp scored his second goal of the night at 10:27 before Moritz Seider tied it at 15:42 before the crowd of 14,559 fans.

“We make a mistake, we lose a net-front battle on the fourth goal,” Ruff said.

Center Tage Thompson, who scored his team-leading 15th goal, said the Sabres “stopped making plays” and “looked afraid to make” them.

“Looked like there was no confidence,” he said. “Just sat back on our heels and let them take it to us. Looked like we were just trying to hold onto a lead instead of taking the game to them like we did in the first and the second, where we were two guys on them, giving them no time and space, transitioning quick and breaking the puck out clean.”

Ruff wants his players to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations, something he has repeated over and over.

In the third period, Ruff said the Sabres lost their composure. Thompson said they looked “tight.”

“That’s product of not winning,” Thompson said. “Lose however many in a row, it’s easier for you to grip your stick a little tighter, be a little more nervous to make a mistake. Usually you do that, it just compounds things, makes it worse.

“So it’s just got to be a mindset. You just got to want the puck on your stick, want to be the guy that’s gonna make a play, and I think right now, we just look nervous to have the puck. I think we’re just afraid to make mistakes and lose a game when we have leads.”

The Sabres illustrated that by passing up shot after shot. They chased Red Wings goalie Ville Husso by scoring on three of their seven shots on goal in the first period.

Sebastian Cossa, his replacement for the final 45 minutes, gave up two goals in his first 10 minutes of his NHL debut.

The Sabres, however, mustered just 14 shots on the neophyte and zero in overtime.

Incredibly, the Sabres are 1-2-2 when their opponent has pulled the goalie this season.

Meanwhile, in his first home start, veteran goalie James Reimer looked shaky while making 26 stops.

Wingers Zach Benson and Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored the Sabres’ other goals. Dylan Larkin scored the shootout winner after the teams traded goals.

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The Sabres scratched rookie center Jiri Kulich against the Red Wings to make room for winger Jordan Greenway, who returned Monday after missing 10 games with a mid-body injury.

They also scratched winger Jack Quinn for the third straight game.

To create a roster spot for Greenway, the Sabres placed captain Rasmus Dahlin on injured reserve.

Ruff said Dahlin, the Sabres’ top defenseman, had a rehab skate Monday morning. The Swede has missed the last three games after suffering back spasms last Tuesday. Ruff said Dahlin could be ready to play this weekend.

“He got a little work today,” he said. “Talked to him post-workout, and he said he’s feeling pretty good. So hopeful that we can get him back.”

The Sabres made one change on defense Monday, inserting Ryan Johnson, who made his NHL season debut, and scratching Dennis Gilbert.

Johnson played 41 games for the Sabres as a rookie last year. He skated alongside Bowen Byram.

Ruff also shuffled his lines Monday, most notably moving center Dylan Cozens to right wing alongside center Peyton Krebs and Zach Benson.

The coach said prior to the game he has been working with Cozens to improve his defensive reads.

“A lot of times our centermen inside the system has a lot of work to do,” he said. “Tage Thompson has a lot of work to do. I’ve asked those guys personally, ‘If this is too hard, I’ll put you on the wing. You’ll play the wing.’”