Detroit, Mich. (WGR 550/WBEN) - The Buffalo Sabres had a chance on Saturday to win four games in-a-row for the first time all season, and also pull to within two points of the New York Islanders and one point of the Detroit Red Wings in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Instead, however, they only played a very good first period, and then stopped competing and winning battles in the final 40 minutes of a 4-1 loss in Detroit.
Buffalo was excellent in the first period, spending very little time in the defensive zone and a lot of time producing turnovers by forechecking Detroit hard.
Unfortunately, the good play only resulted in a Tage Thompson power play goal.
It was a great bit of deception by Thompson, as James Reimer was ready for one of those missiles from the Sabres center. Instead, he took something off a wrist shot, and totally fooled the Red Wings goaltender.
Buffalo got chances early and often, as Connor Clifton ripped a slap shot from point blank range that Reimer got in front of. JJ Peterka and Bo Byram both hit posts.
For the first time in a long time, one of their early season habits crept in. Buffalo seemed to act like the game was going to be easy in the second period, and Detroit just hemmed them in for most of the middle frame.
The Red Wings were diving for loose pucks, and doing everything they could to break their seven-game losing streak. It resulted in two goals with, the second coming from Pat Kane, as he stared at an open net.
In his postgame comments, defenseman Rasmus Dahlin described things better than I can. He felt they thought it would be easy after a good first period.
"We thought it was going to be the same way in the second and the third, and they came out desperate and really wanted it," said Dahlin after Saturday's loss. "We were on our heels, and we never came back."
I spoke to Thompson at the end of the first period, and he felt with the way they got on the Red Wings' defense in the first, they got a lot of turnovers which led to offensive zone time. After the game, he said it changed all of a sudden in the second.
"We’re in their home building and we come out flying around, and they’re going to have a bit of a push back. I thought it got us on our heels, and we started forcing stuff and made the game easier on them," said Thompson during his postgame comments. "They get a lead, and now we’re chasing.
"The outcome wasn’t what we wanted, but we don’t have time to dwell on it. We’ve got games coming up, and we need all of them. We must focus on one game at a time."
This Sabres group has worked hard to turn an 11-point deficit in the standing to three points, and they did it very quickly. However, the reality is they aren’t going to win every game from here on out, and every loss seems like a disaster.
The Sabres were doing so well on the road, going 8-2-1 . Then when they started winning at home, the road record went bad.
Buffalo has now lost three-straight away from home, and 4-out-of-5 games. That’s not good news, because this road trip continues with games against the Seattle Kraken, Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames.
They must stay close, because when they get back, it’s home games with the Ottawa Senators, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers.
Related
After the game, the Sabres made it official with the call up of goalie Devon Levi from the Rochester Americans.
The rookie has been lights-out with the Amerks, going 11-5-3 with a 2.52 goals-against average and a sparkling .927 save percentage.
Buffalo has back-to-back games coming against the Kraken and Canucks on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. The hard reality is Eric Comrie has won only once this season, and has lost seven-straight games.
Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams must go with the people that have the best chance to win, and right now that would be Levi.