Las Vegas, Nev. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres were back to work Friday in Las Vegas, trying to make sense of another loss where they blew a three-goal lead.
Buffalo blew a 3-0 lead on Thursday, losing to the Colorado Avalanche, 6-5 in overtime.
Inside the Sabres’ locker room after the game, there was anger, frustration and I think amazement that this keeps happening.
Buffalo had a two-goal lead with about two-and-a-half minutes left, because twice they wouldn’t allow Colorado to tie the game. When the Avs got close, Buffalo got goals to get their two-goal lead back.
That, of course, was until Colorado pulled the goaltender to make it 6-on-5.
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Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff seemed like he was in amazement that it happened again.
“When you play a game like that, 9-out-of-10 times you’re going to win a hockey game. We played a hell of a game, we battled hard, they score, we come back and score, they score, we come back again. It was just the composure (6-on-5), not to get the puck out to the neutral zone near the end, kill the clock, taking a shot at the empty net with over a minute,” said Ruff following Friday’s practice. “I mean, anytime over a minute, you’ve got to take the shot to kill the game.”
If you look at the game-tying goal with 7.7 seconds remaining, you would see Rasmus Dahlin dropping to all fours, thinking that’s how you stop the NHL’s leading scorer Nate MacKinnon from making the pass to the slot.
You also saw Beck Malenstyn and Alex Tuch both frozen, leaning toward the point men. They both just stood there, and nobody collapsed to the slot to cover the goal scorer Jonathan Drouin.
I’m not in the Sabres’ meeting, so I don’t know which one should’ve collapsed to get him, but I do know one of them should have.
Right there is what Ruff is talking about when he talks about composure.
“We were way too passive, we just locked up,” Ruff said.
Another problem that Ruff talks to them all the time with is taking penalties.
Buffalo had the lead, and then gave the Avalanche a 5-on-3 for over 1:30. With the talent on the Avalanche, you know they’re not going to squander that opportunity, and they didn’t.
“We knew that would give them life,” Ruff said. “We talked about discipline, and that 5-on-3 was just a killer. That gave the building life, and that gave them life.”
Bo Byram made his return to Denver for the first time since being traded last March, and he scored the goal in the first period to give Buffalo a 2-0 lead.
Jason Zucker sent him in alone off a 2-on-1, and even the fans in the arena gave him a small ovation for a pretty goal.
After the game, Byram couldn’t have cared less about that goal, but at the time, he was very happy.
“It felt great,” he said following the loss. “Whenever you can contribute to help your team win, it’s a great feeling. But the ending of the game overshadows that.”
I didn’t talk about this after the game because after a loss like that, who cares? But the Avalanche did do a very nice video tribute to Byram, and he appreciated it.
“It was cool. The fans here are great, and I loved playing in front of them,” Byram said. “It was pretty cool for them to do that for me, and I really enjoyed it.”
Byram knew it was the 6-on-5 that did his team in, and even after the game in the rearview mirror, he still thinks back to what could’ve been.
“It sucks. 5-on-5, we played them pretty tight, but their big-time players made some big-time plays. It really sucks,” Byram said.
Zucker had three goals and four points on Friday, and is now Buffalo’s second-leading scorer, passing Alex Tuch. Over 82 games, Zucker is on pace to score 29 goals and 34 assists for 63 points.
Tuch is on pace for 25 goals and 34 assists for 59 points.
Tuch scored a hat-trick on Dec. 27 against the Chicago Blackhawks, but it’s the only game he has points in his last eight. He has points in two of his last 13 games.
When your best players aren’t your best players, you’re in trouble. Tuch had 59 points last season too, but that was after he had a career-high 79 points during the 2022-23 season.
JJ Peterka falls into that category too. In his last 21 games, he has three goals and seven assists for 10 points. Peterka is on a 22-goal pace.
He needs to be improving, not regressing from scoring 28 goals last season.
Tage Thompson had three assists on Friday, and put in some hard work to win battles and set up Zucker for goals. Over 82 games, he’s on pace for 43 goals and 36 assists for 79 points. He’s currently on a five-game points streak with eight points during that time.
That’s all fine and good, and for the most part, Thompson played very well on Thursday.
However, your two best players - Dahlin on the game-tying goal and Thompson on the game-winning goal - weren’t remotely good enough.
Thompson has to be the solution, not the guy giving the puck away on the overtime goal. Dahlin has to be the solution, not the one who goes down on all fours to defend the NHL’s leading scorer.
Buffalo needs its best players to be its best players. In two games against Colorado, they got to see what a difference it is when your stars are your best players.
In two games, MacKinnon had two goals and four assists for six points, Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists for three points. Makar had two huge goals on Friday.