BUFFALO – Considering the Sabres’ sorry state these days, their quick response to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ goal 89 seconds into Friday’s 6-3 loss was notable.
Early in their 12th consecutive loss, the Sabres countered after Bobby McMann scored, seemingly tying the game at the 2:34 mark when winger Alex Tuch converted linemate Jason Zucker’s nifty pass.
Then following the celebration, the officials huddled. What was going on?
A linesperson saw Zucker’s stick hit Toronto defenseman Christopher Tanev in the face earlier in the play, drawing blood.
The goal was taken off the board. Zucker received a double minor for high-sticking and no explanation for the call.
According to the Official NHL Rules, section 32.5, part 2, a linesperson can stop play when he “deems that a player has sustained a serious injury that has gone undetected by either of Referees.”
He caught the injury. He just never whistled the play dead.
Toronto superstar Auston Matthews scored a power-play goal toward the end of the penalties at 6:05, putting the Sabres in an early 2-0 hole for the second straight game.
It wasn’t the last time the Sabres would have a goal called back before the pro-Leafs crowd of 18,267 fans in KeyBank Center.
After unraveling in the second period and falling behind 5-1, the Sabres kept chipping away. Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson scored late in the second period. Defenseman Owen Power 11:56 into the third period, making things really interesting.
Then Power appeared to score again at 16:34, making it a one-goal game.
But Toronto challenged for goalie interference, and officials ruled Sabres winger Sam Lafferty’s skate hit goalie Matt Murray’s stick in the crease, nullifying the goal.
During a 12-game winless skid (0-9-3), you don’t receive many breaks.
“I think we’ve pretty well had every scenario now covered off,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “We bounced right back (early), that (top) line goes out and scores (what) would’ve been the tying goal, it goes the other way, a double minor. We’ve almost got the penalty killed and we had three failed clears. Again, you know when you don’t get it down the ice it’s going to kill you.”
Zucker said: “I think you got to earn your breaks, and we’re not doing that right now.”
Right now, the Sabres, who play a road game tonight against the Boston Bruins, are in a full-blown crisis. They have the NHL’s longest winless streak since the Arizona Coyotes’ 0-12-2 run from Jan. 24 to Feb. 29.
How do they generate some confidence and get out of what could be a season-killing stretch?
“You got to earn confidence,” Zucker said. “In order to do that, you got to do the right things consistently, you got to do it every night, and you got to come ready to play. When you start making the right plays and doing the right things, you earn confidence, and we’re not doing that right now.”
The Sabres played well enough after facing some early adversity in the first period. They melted down in the second period, allowing three goals by the 10:47 mark. Sabres winger JJ Peterka scored at 2:22, his first goal in eight games and just his second in 16 outings.
“We got away from our game,” Zucker said of the second period. “We had a good game plan and we were following it in the first, and we decided we wanted to do something different in the second. For whatever reason, it didn’t work.”
After Max Domi’s goal 4:27 into the second period made it 4-1, Ruff yanked goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for the second consecutive game. He was pulled after allowing six goals in the opening 40 minutes of Tuesday’s 6-1 road loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
James Reimer replaced the Finn both times.
Normally, Luukkonen wouldn’t play on consecutive days. But after facing 13 shots in limited action, Ruff he would considering starting him again tonight.
“I would, for sure,” he said. “This isn’t about UPL. Really, let’s be serious. He was exposed to pretty high quality. This is on our group.”
Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin rejoined that group again Friday after back spasms forced him to miss eight games. Ruff threw the defenseman right into the fire, skating 27 minutes, 33 seconds.
“I was skating well, my lungs were good,” Dahlin said. “(I feel) horrible after a (loss).”
