Newark, N.J. (WGR 550) – The first quarter of the 2023-24 Buffalo Sabres season isn’t about a 7-2 loss on Saturday to the New Jersey Devils. It’s how many times in the opening 21 games this team has not been ready to play.
On too many nights, the Sabres get dominated early, get behind and have to chase the game. There are times they do find ways to win, but there’s no way this team should be regressing from last year with a 9-10-2 record.
They can’t string more than two wins together, because they rarely string two good games together.
Here they are, facing a Devils team that is behind them in the standings and had lost 6-of-7 games played. It only took the Sabres 1:31 to make a major error that should never happen.
Devils forward Erik Haula is behind the net with the puck. A defenseman is with him, so he is not at all dangerous. Everything is under control, but for some unknown reason, Tyson Jost leaves Alexander Holtz in front of the net and chases Haula behind the goal. Next thing you know, Holtz gets the pass and has all day to beat goalie Eric Comrie from in close.
Haula is not going to score from behind the net. He’s already covered by a Sabres defender, so why leave your man all alone to chase him?
The next goal came on a 6-on-5 delayed penalty situation. It’s something the Sabres never practice, but they’ve shown this year they’re not good at it, and get scored on too much in that situation.
Why is this not practiced?
The Washington Capitals tied the game with 1:15 left on a 6-on-5 situation on Wednesday. In Chicago last Sunday, the Blackhawks were a post away from tying the game just as the horn sounded.
On the third Devils goal Saturday, Mattias Samuelsson turned the puck over, leading to a 3-on-1. Comrie is out of the play and not one, but two Devils are allowed to stand right in the crease. The puck goes in off captain Nico Hischier.
Before the period ended, Casey Mittelstadt tries to force an entry into the zone, turns the puck over, and then two guys go to Jesper Bratt, who finds a wide-open Ondrej Palat to make it four goals in the first period.
Buffalo had three shots on goal in the period, and these are not the young guys making the errors.
Related
I’m hearing the same things this year from Sabres head coach Don Granato that I heard last year. "They’re young," and he’s not wrong, but he said in training camp he’s tired of hearing that, because many of his young players have quite a bit of NHL experience.
The team’s horrid play made Comrie look bad, but he wasn’t at fault.
Enter Devon Levi, and Buffalo failed to wake up to that, having another period of just three shots on goal.
Injuries are building up with Tage Thompson, Jack Quinn, Zemgus Girgensons and now Mattias Samuelsson again. I get it, but I’m not buying it, because the team was playing poorly when all those guys were playing but Quinn.
It shouldn't take your coach in Winnipeg and your captain on Friday against the Pittsburgh Penguins to get you going.
Saturday’s game against the Devils was against an unprepared bunch that wasn’t ready to play. Yes, players are responsible for getting themselves ready to play, but Granato has not done a good enough job having his team ready to play at the drop of the puck.
When this team plays the way that Granato wants them to, they are a good team and are hard to beat. The problem is it almost never happens.
It’s gotten to the point that if these players aren’t going to play the way they’re asked to, then they need to be pulled from the lineup and general manager Kevyn Adams needs to find players that will.
I get how they handled last season, and I feel they went about it the right way. These players got some valuable experience of being in a playoff race, and playing meaningful games almost until the end.
The talk about this season is now winning and not development, but they’re not walking the walk. The coach and the players say they believe the team will get there, and play the hockey they’re capable of playing.
I believe them that they do feel that way. I don’t think they’re just saying what people want to hear, but I respectfully disagree. If I’m wrong, I’ll be the first one to admit it, but I see no signs whatsoever that this team will get it. I see nothing from Adams or Granato that there’s any urgency to get there.
The process should be in the next phase, not going backwards into the last one.
Coming into Saturday, the Sabres had picked up points in three-straight games, going 2-0-1. It seemed like maybe they were turning a mini corner, but that wasn’t the case.
You may notice I haven’t talked about Jiri Kulich and Isak Rosen’s NHL debuts. I didn’t even ask to speak with them, because I think it would be very unfair to make those two youngsters talk after their teammates performed like that.
The team has Sunday off before playing the New York Rangers on Monday at Madison Square Garden.
