Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres had outlined an ambitious plan to make a big playoff push coming out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break. Since the break, though, the plan has not gone the way they had hoped.
After winning the first two games coming out of the break against the New York Rangers and Anaheim Ducks, the Sabres have since dropped three-straight games, going 0-2-1 against the Carolina Hurricanes, followed by a home-and-home with the Montreal Canadiens.
In Monday night's loss to the Canadiens at the Bell Centre in Montreal, the Sabres had major problems on special teams, surrendering two power play goals, a shorthanded goal, and going 0-for-4 with the man advantage. It's a problem over the last few games that head coach Lindy Ruff knows has let the group down.
"I think the absence of [Jason] Zucker is to show that our power play hasn't quite clicked the way it has. With him around the net front and making low plays and our penalty killing, we had a couple big breakdowns that I didn't like," said Ruff on Tuesday during his weekly appearance on the "Jeremy and Joe Show" on WGR. "I think special teams can win you a lot of games. I went back to early in the year, our power play took a long time to get going. It was the one thing that could have helped us win a lot of games early, and we didn't quite push through with that. So it is a combination of both, but you need a basis of strong 5-on-5 play that will allow you to win games, and then a power play that if it's clicking, you don't have to be the best team some nights to win a game."
What started all the special teams struggles for Buffalo on Monday was the amount of penalties the team took. The Sabres were shorthanded five times in the game, and may have let their emotions get the best of them at times in a high intensity game.
"We've talked a lot about emotionally investing in the game, and whether it's around your goaltender, whether it's hits on players and being invested right from the start of the game. I know there's a fine line. Penalties are things we talk about, the type of penalties we take, whether they're offensive zone penalties, whether they're emotion penalties. Discipline is a big part of the game. I have a hard time really criticizing plays when guys are around or on top of your goaltender, and you're trying to keep out of there," Ruff said with Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase.
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Coming out of the team's break, Ruff had outlined a plan to potentially get back in the playoff race, where the Sabres needed to secure seven out of every 10 points in five game incraments. The Sabres missed that mark by two points in their first segment of five games, so now the team must shift their goals going forward.
"We've talked about how we've got to go 4-0-1 now. A tough schedule, but take it one game at a time," Ruff said. "We're going to stay invested in what we're trying to do here. It may take a couple segments to catch up, but it's something I want the team invested in. I think it's something they bought into. I think we've kind of set some goal with play, with goals-for and goals-against. We're trying to hit those marks, which help us get those points. Our special teams, which we've mentioned, has let us down. Special teams has to be better in these segments if we're going to try to gain the number of points, we need."
The Sabres are back in action on Tuesday night when they host the San Jose Sharks at KeyBank Center. Faceoff is slated for 7 p.m., with pregame coverage starting at 6 p.m. on the radio home of the Sabres - WGR Sports Radio 550.