Columbus, Ohio (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Everybody kept telling me this was all Don Granato’s fault. Terry Pegula thought bringing back Lindy Ruff as head coach would solve everything, but here are the Buffalo Sabres, losing five of their first six games in the 2024-25 season.
For 13 years of no playoffs, this team has fired coaches, general managers and remade the team twice. However, the results are still the same, and we’re still talking after games about not competing hard and not battling hard enough.
This season, the Sabres can either play a good defensive game and get great goaltending, or score goals and turn the puck over all night and not get saves when they need them.
In their 6-4 loss on Thursday to the Columbus Blue Jackets, the first period was hideous and the Sabres found themselves down 2-0. The second period was much better, as they played in the offensive zone and were only down 4-3.
That didn’t last long, though, as they gave up a goal 15 seconds into the third period and got down 6-3 before JJ Peterka scored late.
I’m done talking. I’m going to turn this column over to Alex Tuch, and just let him tell the story.
Tuch was angry after this game, and was very honest with his assessment of Thursday's loss.
“There was lack of effort, lack of urgency. Coming off a back-to-back, you just have to know where to simplify things and make them overwork. And then you win one or two puck battles and they’re over backchecking, they’re over forechecking, and then you have odd-man rushes for, and then you have chances-for and O-zone time because you can make them overwork. But we weren’t able to do that, and we weren’t able to match their compete in the first 10 minutes," said Tuch following the loss.
Buffalo scored three second-period goals, but Tuch isn’t at all satisfied.
“There was a lot more O-zone time, but still not good enough," he said. "I thought our D in the second period did a good job in getting up in the play, keeping the pucks in on the forecheck and hemming them in. But I don’t think we rolled it over. We kept our shifts longer in the O-zone, and we’ve still got to shorten them up. That’s careless there. Just being able to roll it over shift-after-shift puts teams on their heels, and you get momentum and you’re able to keep momentum. But if you can’t do that and you score and give up a goal right away, it hurts."
The last two games saw huge defensive breakdowns, and it starts with their captain Rasmus Dahlin and goes right through the lineup.
"Honestly, it’s just winning those battles. It’s focusing on tiny little details. It’s working hard for your whole shift, not for 35 of the 45 seconds. It’s making sure you bear down in certain areas. We haven’t had that consistency yet in the last couple of games," Tuch said.
"We did a really good job against [Los Angeles Kings] and Florida [Panthers]. At times, we did a really good job against Pittsburgh [Penguins], and we really frustrated them. But we let them get back in it, and playing an up-and-down game in a track meet can hurt you some of the time."
Tuch is frustrated having to say the same things over-and-over again since he arrived from the Vegas Golden Knights.
"We’ve just got to support each other more with and without the puck," he said. "We knew they were coming with a lot of energy, and we can’t let that get to us and force us to come away from our game. So just a lot more support with each other."
I have one quote to bring up from Dahlin after the loss.
The 24-year-old has played 442 NHL games with the Sabres and is now their captain. He has been here for six of the 13 years of the NHL record playoff drought, and is playing the worst hockey of his NHL career.
This quote will stand on its own, and is unbelievable to me:
"They came out hungrier than us, it’s as simple as that. We have to win our battles, we have to play a little more desperate. I have to be better, and that’s my answer."
The team next plays Saturday in Chicago against the Blackhawks, where they'll try to salvage a .500 road trip.
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