The shine from the early part of the 2021-22 season for the Buffalo Sabres may be gone after dropping the last five, going 0-4-1 in those contests. Buffalo's fifth-straight loss came on Monday night in a 5-3 defeat against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena.
The Sabres are now 5-5-2 with 12 points in the standings after starting the year winning five of their first seven games.
The last three games especially have been difficult with Buffalo dropping its first ever game against the newest NHL team, the Seattle Kraken, and following that up with an overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings back on home ice.
During his weekly Tuesday appearance on the “ Howard and Jeremy Show,” Sabres head coach Don Granato praised his team's ability to fight back in a game even after surrendering an early lead.
“I felt great about the competitive effort from the start," Granato said with Howard Simon and Jeremy White. "Washington came out with a lot of energy, and it took us a little bit to match it. I definitely felt like there were segments where we were setting the tone. I thought it was a great game, and a game we needed. Our last time on the road was Seattle, and that was ugly in many ways, and we needed to be better. We needed to be competitive and passionate, and we had that last night. We just didn’t score enough.”
During the five-game skid, one of the bright sports has been the emergence of newly minted center Tage Thompson and the line he has been leading with Victor Olofsson - before he went down due to injury - and Rasmus Asplund. Asplund currently leads the team with 10 points, while Olofsson trails just behind him with nine points.
“The nicest thing when you think of any line is that they developed some chemistry,” Granato said of his top line when healthy.
One of the major storylines to follow for the rest of the season is the continued development of former No. 1 overall pick Rasmus Dahlin. Following the trade of franchise center Jack Eichel last week Thursday, Dahlin has seemingly become the face of the Sabres, and with that comes far more scrutiny.
Dahlin has struggled, at times, during his short career, especially recently. However, Granato still seems to have faith in his 21-year-old defenseman.
“In this league, you can't go 1-on-1 with anyone in today’s game," Granato said. "You need two guys, and when you don't have two guys you can look pretty bad pretty quick. ... That was the issue with Dahlin the past few games - he was exposed, but we left him exposed.”
The Sabres will get back to game action on Friday, Nov. 12 at KeyBank Center when they play host to Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. EST with pregame coverage starting at 6 p.m. EST with the Bulldog on WGR.
You can listen to Granato’s entire interview during the “Howard and Jeremy Show” below:
