Denver, CO (WGR 550) - On Thursday the Buffalo Sabres weren’t ready to play against the Colorado Avalanche. They again gave up goals with total unawareness around them and got Alex Lyon pulled just 6:10 in the game after they gave up two goals on three shots en route to a 6-3 loss.
Lindy Ruff stressed after the game that changing goalies had nothing to do with Lyon and everything to do with waking his team up.
Mackenzie Blackwood was only playing his third game of the season in goal and it looked like it. His rustiness allowed the Sabres to get back into the game. It also helped that the NHL’s best team wasn’t playing at its best.
First Alex Tuch made it 2-1 when Blackwood dropped Tuch’s shot from the left wing wall. Tage Thompson, who said he was much more comfortable playing center in this game, was at the crease and knocked the puck over to Bo Byram who tapped it into the open net.
Jordan Greenway went to the net hard and got a pass from Owen Power as he simply just shot the puck through Blackwood to make the score 3-2 Colorado.
The Sabres stopped chasing the Avalanche around the arena which helped them defend better and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made some key saves. That allowed the Sabres to tie the game on a second period power play on Thompson’s one-timer which didn’t have the velocity it normally does, which I think fooled Blackwood.
At the end of the day, even though Colorado wasn’t at its best, it was still good enough to beat the worst team in the Eastern Conference and the third worst team in the NHL.
Buffalo did play better, especially Thompson who rarely this season has been one of the Sabres best players. Thompson looked comfortable at center, but in the end what does it matter? This team has to win hockey games and they’re not very good at it. Buffalo has one win in nine games and have pretty much taken themselves out of contention for the 15th straight season and we’re not even at Thanksgiving yet.
The Sabres are eight points behind the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins. Those are all teams mentioned as targets for the Sabres to pass this season. Buffalo is now six points out of a playoff spot with eight teams to leapfrog to get into the playoffs. Injuries have been a factor, no question, but the Senators have been without captain Brady Tkachuk and Drake Batherson who came back recently and they find ways to overcome.
For the second straight season Kevyn Adams has sat and watched his team play itself out of contention by late November, but that must be OK with owner Terry Pegula. Last we heard from him in 2020 he said he wanted to be heard. Well, I guess he’s being heard.
The Sabres flew from Denver to Detroit on Friday and will play the Red Wings on Saturday.