Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres had a sellout crowd for their first game of the season on Thursday that just wanted to explode and cheer for their team.
In the end, though, they didn’t give them anything to cheer about, and couldn’t score in a 4-0 loss to the New York Rangers.
For over 50 minutes, this was a 1-0 game, but Buffalo couldn’t get really good scoring chances on Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin, who made 37 saves. Very few of the saves were of the difficult variety, as Buffalo maybe had four or five decent scoring chances.
The biggest problem in this game is center Josh Norris struggled to get to the bench in the third period and didn’t return. That is an injury this team just can’t afford to have, and would not be able to overcome.
Sabres winger Zach Benson got hit in the side of the face with a puck in Wednesday’s practice, and wound up in the hospital and couldn’t play. This team has failed to get a top-six forward for two offseasons, and not having Benson really killed them on Thursday.
Peyton Krebs got the first chance, but was just spinning his wheels and was very much out of place. In the second period, head coach Lindy Ruff put Jason Zucker there, and the line got much better.
The problem with that was Jiri Kulich and Alex Tuch had problems without Zucker.
It was such a non-descript game. Since training camp started, Ruff and the players talked about how important it was to get off to a good start. I’ve seen worse, but it certainly wasn’t a win at all costs effort.
Ruff pointed to the fact they were off with their passing, which meant more than one golden opportunity went by the boards because they couldn’t connect on the pass. Faceoffs were also horrendous, and Ruff also pointed out because of that, they were chasing the puck all night long.
This is a franchise that is trying to win their fans back. Quite honestly, anyone that went to that game wouldn’t be clamoring to get to another one.
This isn’t a deep team right now. They can’t afford to be missing the likes of Benson, Owen Power, Michael Kesselring, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Jordan Greenway and now possibly Norris.
There’s no time for panic, as Rasmus Dahlin said following the loss. There are 81 games left in the season.
The fans came hoping to see the new and improved Sabre. A team that is harder to play against, a team that’s ready to break through with desire and the will to win at all costs.
In Game 1, the sellout crowd saw more of the same.
Last year, the Sabres started with one win in six games. Saturday in Boston must be a different story, no matter who is playing.
Related
