Columbus, Ohio (WGR 550) – Yes, the Buffalo Sabres did overcome a 3-1 deficit on Wednesday to tie the Blue Jackets heading into the third period, but they hung goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen out to dry on all four Columbus goals scored before an empty netter sealed a 5-3 loss.
It was just a bad, disconnected effort that didn’t make Sabres head coach Don Granato very happy.
"It was a disjointed game," said Granato following Wednesday's loss in Columbus. "You could say it’s preseason or whatever, but we need to be better and we know that. That was below the standard that we want, and it was simple: We wanted to play a skill game before the foundation of work. We need to come out and play a work game, and we fell behind as a result."
The game doesn’t count, and the team is still a week away from the regular season opener against the New York Rangers. With that in mind, Granato knows what he wants to do heading into the last week of preparation.
"Tonight was an easy one to have a meeting tomorrow to look at things and find the resolve," he said. "In the beginning, we let the players play, but now it’s time to get ready. There was plenty in that game that we can extract and pull as we prepare for opening night."
Granato adds the coaching staff will bring things to their attention and challenge them.
Connor Clifton showed a lot of rust playing in his first preseason game on Wednesday. He certainly wasn’t alone, as many others played poorly too. It’s one thing to play poorly, but it’s quite another to glide back on your back check and stand there as the other team scores goals. Many Sabres forwards were guilty of that.
Buffalo did use goals from Owen Power and Zach Benson to, at least, tie the game. Benson now has three goals and two assists for five points in five games. He was one of the few bright spots in this game.
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The Sabres will get one more chance on Friday when they close out the preseason at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
