Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres are certainly off to a streaky start to the 2024-25 NHL season.
After managing to earn a three-game winning streak a couple weeks ago, the Sabres followed that with an abysmal three-game losing streak, followed by another bounce-back three-game winning streak.
However, with a chance to win a fourth-straight game for the first time since January of 2023, the Sabres could not close out a victory on Monday afternoon on home ice, losing 7-5 to the Montreal Canadiens at KeyBank Center.
The Sabres surrendered two separate leads on Monday, one in the final minute of the second period to go down 4-3, and the other halfway through the third period to fall behind, 6-5.
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It all leads to the Sabres not being able to find a way to consistently string together some successful performances, leading to more consecutive wins in the standings.
"We've got to become a better team at overcoming those tough moments," said Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff on Tuesday during his weekly appearance on the "Jeremy and Joe Show" on WGR. "You can go back to the Calgary game, we gave up late goals that allowed Calgary to get back in the game. You've got to overcome that. You get into overtime and we took a tough penalty, but overcoming that meant we killed a penalty off. That allowed us to win the game in a shootout. Those are the types of moments that build character for your team, and you've got to move forward.
"We play so many games in such a small amount of time, you really can't dwell on the tough moments. You've got to learn from them, you've got to learn to overcome them. You've got to become better just because of the hard moments inside of a game."
The Sabres have long been one of the youngest teams in hockey, and are still trying to build on the experience with their young prospects. The current core of the team is close to transitioning from being considered young, to being regular NHLers.
This transition can be difficult for some, and can cause road blocks when working through hard times in the NHL.
"We have plenty of youth that has plenty of game experience, but we still have to become better," Ruff said with Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase. "If you look inside of a game, sometimes we have to be smarter, sometimes we just have to work harder in a shorter period of time. Sometimes we have to be a little bit smarter inside of a game, and I think that's the growth with what you would say with guys that have 100 games, 200 games, 300 games. There are guys that have more games, or have the ability to put that play behind them and move on, and get ready to win the next play inside of a game, which is usually your next shift."
Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin has had the tendency to be an emotional player, at times, in his young NHL career. Over the past few games, he has cost the Sabres with some untimely penalties, including one towards the end of the game against the Canadiens that led to the go-ahead goal.
Ruff believes if his emotions are properly controlled, Dahlin could showcase his full potential at the NHL level.
"Every player has a trigger. Can you control that trigger? Whether it's an emotional trigger, physical at a key moment, we have to be able to conquer those hard moments," Ruff reiterated. "That is a moment that he has to let go. He's going to have to learn to let go. He hasn't been able to do it yet, but I think I would rather have a player full of emotion than try to teach emotion."
The Sabres will look to get back on the winning track on Thursday night when they host the St. Louis Blues at KeyBank Center for a 7:30 p.m. EST faceoff.
