Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – What we witnessed in Downtown Buffalo on Tuesday night can never, ever happen to the Sabres on home ice.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are the 29th-ranked team in the NHL with a .391 points percentage. That team can never walk into your building and hang a nine spot up on you.
Columbus had seven goals by the end of the second period thanks to four goals in 4:50.
The Sabres absolutely stopped playing in the second period despite the fact that they were being booed right off their home ice.
Both Kyle Okposo and Tage Thompson thought it was ridiculous to put the blame on head coach Don Granato. Thompson said Granato isn’t the one playing on the ice, they are.
The simple fact is this: I know general manager Kevyn Adams, Granato and the players keep telling us they’re going to be patient, because this group will get it. As much as I respect those men, they just aren’t right.
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It’s been a year-and-a-half and this team has actually gotten quite a bit worse instead of better. This team has the worst goal differential in the Eastern Conference at minus-20, and none of the data or evidence points to this group as being capable of getting better and battling for a playoff spot.
The young team, the compete issue, the pressure getting to them. It was all valid last year, but it’s not even remotely valid this season.
I can’t stand hearing Adams, Granato and these players talking about how they don’t compete hard enough. They are right, of course, but I can’t be any clearer with my point: That is not going to change. That is a character flaw.
If competing hard isn’t part of your makeup, you’re just not going to do it. It can't be taught. Either you’re willing to do it or you’re not, and the players that aren’t willing to do it need to be identified by Adams and sent elsewhere.
This team has been together for well over a year, and if some of them still aren’t competing, they never well.
It’s an issue that has to be addressed, and this team will never get any better until it does.
I hate to tell you, folks, but Adams still believes in these players, as does Granato. They rarely play Granato's system the way they’re supposed to, which is why they don’t win as much as they should.
Again, it should be abundantly clear that after 115 games as a group, they haven’t gotten it, which means they probably won’t get it.
This is the first time where I heard in the third period the "Fire Donny" chant from the fans. That is going to get worse too.
Something has to change, but it won’t until Terry Pegula believes that it has to be changed.
