COLUMBUS – Seventy-six games remain for the Buffalo Sabres following Thursday’s ugly 6-4 loss to the Blue Jackets, so there’s time to correct things.
But having started this season a dreadful 1-4-1, they better get going in a hurry. Right now, it sure feels a lot like past years. Not much has changed under new coach Lindy Ruff.
The Sabres are a mess defensively. Their special teams are brutal.
They’ve scored 14 even-strength goals in their last three games, a strong number that should’ve resulted in three wins. Instead, they’re 1-1-1 during that stretch.
Why? They’ve consistently been losing battles – those 50-50s Ruff often talks about – and breaking down, creating scoring chances for the opposition. Their power play has converted zero of its 17 chances this season.
They’ve allowed three power-play goals in the last two games, including the overtime clincher in Wednesday’s 6-5 road loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
On Thursday before a crowd of 16,126 fans in Nationwide Arena, the Sabres looked disjointed early and often. Yegor Chinakhov scored a power-play goal 5:12 into the contest after Sabres defenseman Connor Clifton took an interference penalty.
It took the Sabres about 10 minutes just to record a shot attempt.
Kirill Marchenko’s goal 19:28 into the first period put Columbus up 2-0.
“They won more battles,” Ruff said of the opening 20 minutes. “I talked to the team about that after the first period. They were quicker, they were stronger on pucks, so it’s a will. The 50-50’s a will – the will to hang onto it in the O-zone.
“I think when we got going in the second period, we saw what it looked like. But the start of the game like that, there’s no excuse for it.”
Sabres winger Alex Tuch echoed Ruff, saying lost battles have led to defensive breakdowns.
“It’s just winning those battles,” he said. “It’s focusing on tiny little details, just not being careless. It’s working hard for your full shift, not for 35 of the 45 seconds. It’s making sure you bear down in certain areas, and we haven’t had that consistency yet in the last couple of games.”
The Sabres responded in the second period, getting goals from center Ryan McLeod and winger Jiri Kulich, the first of the rookie’s five-game NHL career, to creep within one twice. But each time, the Blue Jackets quickly answered to restore their two-goal lead.
“We started competing harder,” Ruff said. “We started moving on pucks, skating on pucks, we got some motion in the offensive zone, we got to pucks first. It was probably pretty simple, but when you get the first touch and you make the next play, you’re going to create something offensively.”
Defenseman Owen Power’s goal 19:35 into the second period narrowed the margin to 4-3, seemingly seizing the momentum for Buffalo.
“We have 20 minutes to score one goal, we’ve just got to stay with it,” said captain Rasmus Dahlin, who wants the Sabres to stop forcing plays. “We can’t get in our heads.”
When Zach Aston-Reese tipped a shot by Sabres goalie Devon Levi, restoring Columbus’ two-goal lead 15 seconds into the third period, Ruff said he could feel the air go out of the bench.
“That’s a tough one because we had built a lot of momentum coming out of the second period,” he said. “We won the period, we’re only down one knowing that we got 20 minutes, and I thought we had them on their heels in the second period.
“But to give that one up, again, goals at the start of periods and goals at the end of periods are killers.”
On Marchenko’s goal, Mattias Samuelsson telegraphed a cross-ice pass deep in his own zone, another gaffe by the Sabres’ talented defense corps that has been handling the puck poorly.
“It’s surprising,” Ruff said. “Plays that we didn’t make for a couple of games, then all of a sudden, we’ve made some ill-advised plays. It creates momentum for the other team. We’re not playing a good period, and at the end of the first period we hand over the goal that we hand over. Maybe we don’t like the goal but, still, it’s a play where we should exit out of the zone easily.”
Kulich, who replaced winger Jack Quinn in the lineup, was one of the Sabres’ few bright spots. The Czech scored 17:29 into the second period, tipping center Dylan Cozens’ one-timer from the point in from the slot.
“I was just net-front, so I just put my stick to the puck and, yeah, easy goal,” Kulich said.
The youngster also pumped five shots on goals – as many as Quinn has all season – and attempted nine shots.
Winger JJ Peterka scored a late goal for the Sabres, his third in two days.
The Sabres are giving up too many odd man rushes. The way they are playing right now reminds me of how they played the last time Lindy was the coach, and we all know the results of that. There’s too much talent here to play the way they have. Maybe old # 22, was not the correct choice? Time will tell.