Philadelphia, Pa. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres still haven’t won three-straight games this season, as they were pretty much run out of the building in Philadelphia on Wednesday in a 5-2 loss to the Flyers.
It started off well, as Buffalo got an early power play and won some battles. Josh Doan got the puck behind the net and found a wide-open Jason Zucker in front, and the Sabres were off and running.
Or so they thought.
Just 30 seconds after the Zucker goal, the Sabres got another power play, but starting from this point forward, Buffalo’s best players weren’t their best players.
This is a theme that has happened too much this season.
Tage Thompson lost the puck and then compounded it by taking a hooking penalty. The chance to go up 2-0 by using the extra man was gone.
It took just 59 seconds for this to turn into a complete and utter disaster, with Buffalo's best players playing key roles in the collapse. In those 59 seconds, the Sabres gave up two power play goals, which they hadn’t done in a game all season.
After Thompson’s lazy penalty, Conor Timmins took a ridiculously dumb cross-checking penalty, giving the Flyers a 44-second 5-on-3 advantage. You have the lead on the road where you’ve had trouble for most of the season, and you starting taking dumb penalties.
They killed off the 5-on-3, but any structure came tumbling down, as Alex Tuch had a chance to clear the puck and didn’t.
Travis Konecny’s shot from the point went in because Colten Ellis was interfered with by Owen Tippett. But this is where head coach Lindy Ruff really blew the game.
As much as I think it was goaltender interference, I think it’s too big of a risk and a really bad challenge. With how inconsistent the league is with goalie interference, I don’t think it was worth the risk of being wrong and giving the Flyers a third-straight power play.
Ellis said something to the referee right away, and Ruff decided to go for the challenge.
"If you don’t challenge, you’re never going to know," explained Ruff following the loss. "We knew it was going to be a light challenge, but at the same time, I saw goals that were taken away that were a lot less than that.
"We felt that [Tippett's] stick got into our goalie’s blocker, and it looked like the body was inside the paint but the skates weren’t. But [Ellis] felt he was interfered with, and that’s part of my reaction too. If the goalie is that adamant about it, then something definitely happened to effect him on the save."
Sure enough, 38 seconds later, Tervor Zegras puts it in off of Ryan McLeod’s stick and it’s 2-1, Flyers.
Then just 21 seconds after that, Noah Cates sets up Bobby Brink on top of the crease with Mattias Samuelsson standing there, but not covering him.
Three goals in 59 seconds, and the Sabres couldn’t handle the adversity and crumbled.
Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin let his temper and frustration get the best of him in the second period, as he hit Zegras squarely from behind and got a richly-deserved five-minute major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct. It was a very dangerous hit and, in my estimation, deserves a one-game suspension from the league.
Samuelsson has been Buffalo’s best defenseman all season, but this wasn’t his night. He was on the ice for four goals-against and was a spectator on two of them. I think he’ll be fine, though. One bad game doesn’t ruin what he has done this season.
Ruff was not happy with his best players, and wasn’t afraid to say so after the game.
"The top guys failed the test," he said. "We took a bad penalty, a bad clear. We had plenty of opportunities to get back into the game. We weren’t sharp, so we failed the test on consistent play, for sure."
Thompson took responsibility for his poor play afterwards, and said the power play failed them after scoring the first goal.
Buffalo went 0-for-5 after the Zucker power play tally, and hardly even produced a chance to score.
So Buffalo is back in the cellar of the Eastern Conference with a points percentage of .481.
Any team that can’t win more than two-straight games isn’t going to be anywhere near a playoff spot. It’s early December, and Buffalo still hasn’t won three games in-a-row this season.
It'll take, at least, 10-straight wins to get back into the race, at this point. But there’s nothing that tells us this team can do that. They can't even win three in-a-row.
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