(WGR 550) - It’s pretty bad when the national announcers from ESPN call out the effort of your team.
For 54 minutes on Tuesday night, the Buffalo Sabres showed no spark, no effort, no attention to detail, no compete, no willingness to battle. They showed absolutely nothing to a team that had just six wins in 31 games.
Instead, the Sabres let an Anaheim Ducks team that had lost six-straight home games and was one of the worst scoring teams in the NHL absolutely embarrass them. They let this same Ducks team get 19 shots on Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in the second period alone, and 36 shots overall.
They stood there, gave the puck away, and watched them get out to a 3-0 lead in the second period.
After Henri Jokiharju started the third period by taking a dumb penalty down 3-0 at the 1:38 mark, Mattias Samuelsson finally showed his teammates what effort and pride is. The 23-year-old went down and blocked two absolute lasers from Ducks winger Frank Vatrano to help kill the penalty.
That’s when ESPN play-by-play man John Buccigross said, "It’s time to show a little 'give a crap'." Even he was disgusted by the complete no-show he was witnessing from the Sabres.
You would think that kind of effort from Samuelsson would’ve fired up his teammates. It didn’t.
The Sabres finally showed up when Radko Gudas took a penalty at the 14:02 mark of the third period.
It was 3-0 at the time, and head coach Don Granato pulled Luukkonen to set up a 6-on-4 man advantage. All of a sudden, battles were being won, players were fast and going to the net. The team showed some passion in their play, as Jordan Greenway went to the front of the net and tipped in a Rasmus Dahlin shot.
Just 2:23 later, with Luukkonen again pulled, Tage Thompson kept working hard to retain possession and found Kyle Okposo in the slot. The Sabres captain made it 3-2 by using Greenway as a screen in front of Ducks goalie John Gibson.
Buffalo kept pressing for the tying goal, but Ducks veteran Adam Henrique scored the empty-netter to eliminate any potential Sabres comeback.
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Greenway dominated the final six minutes, and has been one of the best penalty killers in the NHL for the Sabres this season. But why can’t we see that effort we saw in the final six minutes more often from him? He used his size to win battles and to screen the goalie.
After that, Peyton Krebs brushed John Gibson in the head, which started a lot of wrestling.
"The Sabres should’ve of made a big hit or a fight earlier when they were sluggish," said ESPN color commentator A.J. Mleczko.
She gets it, so why don’t the players and Granato?
For 54 minutes, that had to be the easiest game Gibson had played in more than a few years. The Sabres stayed away from him, and he could see everything in front of him.
The Sabres get right back at it on Wednesday night when they play the Los Angeles Kings.
Buffalo has lost three-of-five games, and I’m very interested to see if anyone shows up to that game with some pride. If they start the way they finished on Tuesday, they’ll be just fine.
