Raleigh, N.C. (WGR 550) – It’s about time somebody on this team got mad about what has been happening in the first 24 games of the 2023-24 season.
The Buffalo Sabres put in a decent effort for 15 minutes on Saturday in Carolina, and then the roof fell in and so did they in a 6-2 loss to the Hurricanes.
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Dylan Cozens is a very emotional player. After the game during his postgame comments, he displayed his anger.
First of all, Cozens wants it known that when it comes to everything he said, it starts with him, and he knows he has to be better.
"I think we definitely play too soft. We’re too easy to play against, and we need to get a little 'F-you' in our game," said Cozens on Saturday. "I think we had more of that last year, and we’re way too soft this year. I feel like we don’t kill plays, we kind of get bullied and stuff, and we need to be way harder to play against."
The next question I asked was, how does that change?
"We need to go in and look at each game that this is our game to win," Cozens said. "We’re not going to give you guys a chance. We need to finish more checks, stronger in puck battles, we need to kill plays in the defensive zone and be way harder to play against."
This team is in a severe regression from last year. A few players like JJ Peterka, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Henri Jokiharju are better, but it’s very few.
Mattias Samuelsson right now is just a shell of what we saw last year. I’m not picking on him solely, because he’s not even close to being alone.
Rasmus Dahlin has been very good this season, but he has to be better than very good. He has to be dominant, and there have been very few games where that’s been the case.
This team competed for the first 15 minutes of this game and after that, they were done, and the Hurricanes skated them right out of the back of the rink. It was, quite frankly, embarrassing.
Eric Comrie took responsibility for his game, and he should have. He needed to stop the first goal by Sebastian Aho. Aho was open in the slot, but he sailed it right over Comrie’s glove. The goaltender felt if he made a couple of big saves, the game could’ve been different.
I don’t disagree.
In the last four games, Buffalo has given up seven, one, six and six goals. There is absolutely no sign that this team is improving.
This season, the Sabres have only played a handful of decent games, and then found ways to win in a few others. It has kept them in the playoff race, which means if they go on a streak soon, they’ll be in playoff position.
However, I don’t think there’s enough compete or want on this team to play the way head coach Don Granato wants them to on a consistent basis. There are too many examples of some of these guys taking the easy way out, and when it happens, they aren’t benched or put in the press box.
Ever since general manager Kevyn Adams was hired, he talked about the team earning the fans back. It seemed they made headway last year, but Adams has to know pretty much all that good will is gone, because fans do not believe this is getting any better.
The Sabres will look to rebound on Sunday night when they host the Nashville Predators back home in Buffalo.
