Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres didn’t just lose on Monday to the Florida Panthers, they got absolutely destroyed.
Buffalo limited the chances in the first period, but only left trailing 1-0.
The Panthers then just stomped on the Sabres. It got to the point where the Sabres were standing around watching the Panthers just throwing the puck from open man to open man to open man. When they were done disrespecting the home team, they stood and laughed at them. And that’s where the rub is, very few got mad.
John Hayden did. He was furious and he showed it. Most of his teammates just pulled in their horns and were overwhelmed. As Hayden got angrier, more of the Panthers paid the price.
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Let me take you back to December where Buffalo built a 4-1 lead over Florida in Sunrise. The Sabres gave up six unanswered goals and lost, 7-4. They gave up the first six goals in this game, so in less than five periods, the Panthers scored 12-straight goals against the Sabres.
OK, sometimes that happens, but I need to see players get mad and very few did.
When speaking with head coach Don Granato on the topic, he wanted to see it too from his team.
“I saw the angry in John. I liked the angry in [Dylan] Cozens in the third period, I thought he was tenacious. [Rasmus] Asplund, [Casey] Fitzgerald, so there were guys that did, but even when you don’t have it, do something," Granato said following the loss. "Elevate your compete, your second effort, anything. I thought those four guys gave us what they could.”
That’s fine, but I also think it’s fair to say that we need to see more than four guys do it.
“No question," Granato said. "To me, you get into these situations and the guys will know that their evaluation is going to be on the response.
“We have a young organization and you’re going to go through those things, but we want to see and we have to make decisions for the future. We will take note on how people respond, and we’ll talk about that as a group.”
I just don’t understand how any competitive athlete can sit there and watch their opponent embarrass them and then laugh at them. Until there’s enough pride to make sure that never happens, we’re not going to see the full resurrection of this organization.
