Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres beat the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, coming back from three goals down for the first time in seven years. And then they dominated the Edmonton Oilers on Monday, only to play the worst team in the NHL on Wednesday and totally embarrass themselves in a 6-2 loss.
The Sabres were tied at 2-2 after 40 minutes with the Calgary Flames, and gave up three goals in the first 9:48 of the third period when they absolutely should’ve been able to come out of it with points.
This was a complete no show from top-to-bottom. It was very obvious they were totally outworked and outplayed.
There’s no point in me saying it, because head coach Lindy Ruff, defenseman Mattias Samuelsson and forward Tage Thompson all said it following the loss.
"In the first, way too casual. I thought they flat out won more puck battles. I thought all game we were pretty sloppy with the puck when we did have it, especially through the neutral zone trying to force stuff, and we claw our way back into the game. I think our power play was too perimeter, not urgent enough to get pucks and bodies to the net," said Thompson, who wears an "A" on his sweater and is one of the team leaders.
"I think we get a little too high on ourselves after a few wins, and we think we’re better than we are instead of remembering what got us those wins. I thought against Edmonton, we were really hard to play against. Today, I thought we were really easy, really light on the puck.
"I think the main focus is we didn’t control things that were within our control, and that’s puck battles and intensity. I think we went into every 1-on-1 battle just casual and just soft.
"It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, you can win or lose on any given night. I think it was just a lack of respect for the game of hockey, thinking you’re just going to go out there casual and the puck is just going to find you. That’s not the case."
Mattias Samuelsson also has an "A" on his sweater, and he didn’t pull any punches either.
"There is some good hockey, and there’s some games where we put it together and everyone is rolling and you see the potential. And then there’s some game where guys are just passengers, and not enough guys pulling the same way," said Samuelsson following the loss.
"The coaches can only do so much. We’re the ones on the ice. Lindy can draw up a game plan and they can say whatever they want, but if we don’t do it, it’s on us. We’re the ones out there with the skates on."
Ruff seemed very disgusted with what he saw.
"In the third period, on a goal we got beat to the net, two goals around the net front we weren’t strong enough," said Ruff after the blowout. "The execution of puck movement wasn’t good enough, we weren’t winning enough faceoffs.
"I think as a group, we’ve got to get engaged physically, and we lost too many battles. As a group, there wasn’t a lot of players to like in the game. If you want to break down every goal, somebody got outmuscled somewhere, somebody got beat back up ice. They beat us to pucks that led to goals.
"We’ve got a little history of coming off a high of beating a good team, and I don’t think we respected them enough. They’re desperate, they’re a big, strong team. We knew we’d have to find ways to win battles and foot races.
"We got outworked, and it’s as simple as that. I think some of our guys wanted it easy, and it wasn’t going to be easy tonight."
There you have it.
It’s not the first time we’ve heard any of this. We’ve heard it way too many times:
- "Some guys wanted it easy…"
- "We got out worked…"
- "Some guys were passengers…"
- "We get too high on ourselves…"
- "We went into battles casual and soft…"
- "It was a lack of respect for the game of hockey..."
This team is at the bottom of the Eastern Conference on merit. It’s not a fluke. They’re there because they truly are the worst team in the East.
When comments like that are coming out of that dressing room more times than they should be, you don’t need me to tell you this is a flawed team and a flawed hockey department.
It’s flawed from the very top on down.
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