Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Erik Johnson was brought to Buffalo this offseason to show this young Sabres group what it takes to be a Stanley Cup champion. He sees this team just like he saw the Colorado Avalanche a few years before they won the Cup.
Johnson scored his first goal with the Sabres on Thursday in a 4-3 loss to the Calgary Flames, and spoke after the loss, very directly when discussing why the Buffalo lost.
"We’re going to be able to score goals like that most of the year, but until we have a commitment to team defense, we won’t accomplish much," said Johnson following the loss.
"We’re tied 2-2 with a minute left in the second and we give up a breakaway and an odd-man rush. Then we give up a 4-on-2 two minutes into the third. We won’t win in the long run, because that takes a five-man commitment on the ice to do it right. I think, sometimes, that comes with going through those lumps, because sometimes to have success, you’ve got to learn those mistakes. Those are things we can clean up no problem. it’s just a mindset to do that."
The plays Johnson was talking about were Elias Lindholm breakaway late in the second period, which Devon Levi made a huge glove save on. The third period play was Zach Benson at the blue line and Rasmus Dahlin getting carried away, jumping in too quickly and giving the Flames a 4-on-2 rush, which Blake Coleman scored on.
JJ Peterka got that goal back just 1:22 later after some excellent work by Dylan Cozens, but Connor Clifton turned the puck over to Nazem Kadri just 1:21 later. The veteran then found Adam Ruzicka, who scored from a bad angle on a goal Levi should’ve had. That goal ended up being the game winner.
Getting back to Johnson, he wasn’t done in his analysis of the game. He talked about taking the simple play instead of overcomplicating the situation.
"When you commit to defense, you will get offense and you will win," Johnson said.
Sabres head coach Don Granato was equally direct following the loss.
"We created our own mess," said Granato following Thursday's loss. "Calgary did a nice job of playing a very direct game and they got their bounces. It’s a real simple thing to see. When you look at our entries, did we drive enough depth? Did we get enough pucks behind? When you’re unwilling to do that and you’re unwilling to shoot, and go after pucks too; again, we wanted an easier game and we almost got away with it. But it’s not a good habit."
Granato says Calgary won because they were willing to put pucks to the net and create the ciaos.
"We wanted to pass our way into the net," he said.
Levi made some really good saves at times, but he also struggled in, what I thought was, easily his worst game of the season. I still see him playing Saturday, and then playing one of the games on Monday and Tuesday.
The Sabres finally got their first power play goal of the season, as Tage Thompson scored to tie the game at 2-2.
Buffalo went 1-for-5 with the extra man on Thursday night, and went 5-for-5 on the penalty kill. The Sabres are now 15-of-16 on the penalty kill, which is good for a 93.8% success rate.
The Sabres will next host the New York Islanders on Saturday night.
