Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres still haven’t hit rock bottom under general manager Kevyn Adams.
On Friday, Buffalo fell behind to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-1, and ended up losing, 6-3.
Depending on how you look at the standings, the Sabres, under four years and 33 games of Adams, go into Boston on Saturday as the worst team in the Eastern Conference, and the second-worst team in the National Hockey League.
If you go by points, only the Nashville Predators have fewer points than the Sabres. If you go by points percentage, the Preds and San Jose Sharks are worse than Buffalo at .394.
When this 12-game winless streak (0-9-3) started, Buffalo was in a playoff spot. Their last win was in San Jose on Nov. 23, which is almost a month ago.
Nothing really changed on Friday, as Buffalo was plagued by very poor puck management, which took them out of their defensive structure and it was a disaster.
On Bobby McMann’s goal to open the scoring, Dennis Gilbert stepped up into the offensive zone, the puck got turned over, and it was a 3-on-1 the other way.
Just 1:04 later, the line of Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch and Jason Zucker tied the game, or so they thought.
Owen Power did a great job of getting in deep and winning the battle to Zucker, who found Tuch in the slot, and the Sabres winger quickly whipped a shot past Matt Murray, who was playing his first NHL game since 2023.
By NHL rule, the linesman can call a high sticking penalty, and had called one against Zucker, who drew blood. However, he’s not allowed to blow the play dead, and doesn’t tell the referee until after play is stopped, which happened to be the goal.
So instead of the score being 1-1, Zucker wound up with a double minor penalty, and the Sabres went to the penalty kill.
Buffalo never even gave up a scoring chance until just 29 seconds left in the kill, but it was a wide l-open scoring chance to Auston Matthews, who easily hit the open net.
What was first thought to be a 1-1 game now turned into 2-0, Toronto.
I’ve always said your best players must be your best players, and honestly, that was pretty much the last time we heard from that line in the game. That is a major problem.
Thompson didn't even have a shot on goal in the game, while Zucker had one shot and Tuch registered two shots.
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff met with his leaders on Thursday, telling them they have to be the guys that pull this team out of this. It didn’t work.
Between this game and Tuesday in Montreal, the Sabres have given up seven second period goals. This season, they’ve been outscored 47-30 in the second period!
Getting back to why the Sabres always have their defensive structure broken, on Nick Robertson’s goal in the second period, Power had stepped in, giving the Leafs a 2-on-1. A horrendous pass to Zach Benson hit the back of his skate, which was the turnover that led to the breakout.
Mattias Samuelsson played it perfectly, taking away the pass, but Robertson beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen through the legs. It’s a goal that must be stopped.
JJ Peterka scored from the deep slot to make the game 3-1, but the Leafs weren’t done.
Toronto had a 2-on-2 rush moments later, but Max Domi blew right past Bo Byram down the slot to make it a 3-on-2 and beating Luukkonen. The Sabres could’ve used a big save there.
At 4-1, that ended Luukkonen’s night with nine saves on 13 shots in 24:27 of work.
Max Pacioretty was next, as it became an outnumbered rush after Connor Clifton simply did nothing to try to cover Pacioretty down the middle.
There are the five Toronto goals, and it was poor puck management leading to bad defensive posture in each case. The sixth goal was an empty-netter.
Since Sunday, Toronto has beaten Buffalo with a goalie that hadn’t played in the NHL in almost two years, and a goalie making his third NHL start.
After the game, Ruff said Luukkonen will start against the Bruins. He’s 0-7-2 in his last nine starts, and in his last eight games, his goals-against average is 4.51 with a save percentage of .850. Most of that is because of the breakdowns in front of him.
Related
Saturday will be the first game of the season against the Boston Bruins.
Boston holds the No. 1 Wild Card position in the Eastern Conference, 12 points ahead of the Sabres. Yes, a month ago Buffalo was ahead of Boston.
The Bruins are 9-4-1 in their last 14 games, but have won just 3-of-6 lately.
Jeremy Swayman has won three of his last five starts in goal, but it’s been tough sledding. He’s given up three goals three times, eight goals once, and one goal to the Canucks in Vancouver.
Swayman held out during training camp for a new contract and it shows. He’s 11-10-3 with a 3.13 goals-against average and an .887 save percentage.
This is Boston’s first game home after five games out West.
I’m not used to seeing the Bruins 24th in goals-against at 3.15 per-game. Their offense is worse at 27th, scoring 2.59 goals per-game. Their power play is worse than the Sabres at 31st, and their penalty kill is 21st.
Brad Marchand has been hot lately, scoring five goals and four assists for nine points in an eight-game point streak. Marchand leads the Bruins with 13 goals.
David Patrnak hasn’t been himself this season with 12 goals and 21 assists for 33 points in 34 games.
Join Brian Koziol and myself for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. EST.