(WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres have been hit with another injury.
Head coach Lindy Ruff joined the "Jeremy and Joe Show" for his weekly appearance on Tuesday and said winger Jason Zucker is going to miss some time with a lower-body injury.
Zucker went awkwardly into the boards during the second period on Monday against the Calgary Flames, and limped off to the dressing room. He did return to the bench and finished the game, but the prognosis after the 7-4 loss was not good.
"The initial view from our crew after the game is he will miss some time," said Ruff on WGR.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Noah Ostlund gets recalled from the Rochester Americans. The Sabres assigned the young forward back to the Amerks on Sunday.
After the Sabres' loss in Calgary, I decided to go to bed and sleep on what I wanted to say about it.
As I sit here now, nothing has changed in my mind.
Only two teams in the National Hockey League are worse than the Sabres this year. Buffalo's points percentage of .448 is only better than the Nashville Predators (.429) and Vancouver Canucks at (.417).
This team is on a three-game losing streak, and has lost 5-of-7 games. In their last 21 games, the Sabres have won seven contests. That’s a points percentage of .429.
They are the most pathetic team in the NHL on the road, going 2-9-2.
Sabres owner Terry Pegula can’t put the fans through this any longer. This is a hockey team that hasn’t even won three games in-a-row yet this season, and it’s Dec. 9.
We all know that general manager Kevyn Adams should no longer be here. The only one that hasn’t figured it out yet is the owner.
Since being hired, the Sabres are 175-196-42 under Adams. That’s a points percentage of .475, which is 26th in the NHL. The team now is worse than when he got the job on June 16, 2020.
Pegula sees a game or two where the team plays well, and gets mesmerized by it, as well as what Adams tells him.
All Adams and Ruff talked about from April until now is how the team has to get better defensively. That’s been an utter embarrassment, as the Sabres are 30th in the NHL with a goals-against average of 3.55.
Ruff has coached this team for 111 games and is 47-53-11, a points percentage of .473. That’s 29th in the NHL.
Also under Ruff, the goals-against average is 3.51. Only the San Jose Sharks are worse at 3.64.
Owen Power is a former first overall pick in 2021, and Bo Byram is a former fourth overall pick in 2019. Both have regressed badly under Ruff.
As much as fans love him in Buffalo, the fact is this just isn’t working. Ruff has coached a long time, and there are things he's done in his career that have worked well for him. They aren’t working here, and the players - for whatever reason - are not grasping or are refusing to grasp the message.
Brining back Adams and the full coaching staff with no additions or subtractions has proven to be a huge mistake for the Sabres.
What needs to be done is so obvious to everyone around the NHL, except for Pegula. Players around this league laugh at this organization. I’ve seen it, and heard the comments first hand.
The Sabres have the second half of a back-to-back on Tuesday when they face the Oilers in Edmonton.
Buffalo did show it’s quite capable of playing a good brand of hockey when these two teams last met back on Nov. 17.
When facing the Oilers in Western New York, the Sabres totally shut down Connor McDavid in a 5-1 win. Colten Ellis was steady in net, and made the big saves when he had to, stopping 32-of-33 shots.
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With both Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Alex Lyon playing in Calgary on Monday, I would expect to see Ellis on Tuesday.
Sleeping on the Calgary game also didn’t change my mind with how I saw the game unfold.
Every time the Sabres mustered up a good effort to get to within a goal of the Flames, they immediately handed it back to Calgary.
Trailing 2-0 in the second period, Tage Thompson scored at 4:24 to make it 2-1. At 5:02 and 6:54, Beck Malenstyn and Jordan Greenway took penalties to put Buffalo down two men. The just as the 5-on-3 became a 5-on-4 at 7:05, Jonathan Huberdeau made it 3-1 for the Flames.
Buffalo caught Calgary in a shift that lasted almost 2:30 and Power took advantage, using a screen for his first goal in 14 games.
It only took Power 31 seconds, though, to get back to his old self, as he was totally oblivious to the fact that Nazem Kadri had gotten behind him and he went in alone to score.
Josh Norris made a nice move to start a rush, getting the puck up to Josh Doan. Rasmus Dahlin had a perfect read joining the play, and Doan gave him a perfect pass for his first goal in 15 games.
But don’t panic, the Sabres gave it right back just 55 seconds later when Dahlin fell behind the net, allowing Blake Coleman to bring the puck right to the crease. Luukkonen stopped Coleman, but nobody picked up Yan Kuznetsov in front, and the two-goal lead was restored once again.
Buffalo got a late power play and Ruff pulled Lyon, who had replaced Luukkonen to start the third period. Alex Tuch was able to tip in a point shot from Dahlin for a 6-on-4 power play goal.
But just 43 seconds after Tuch pulled the Sabres to within one, Calgary hit for two empty-net goals and a 7-4 win.
Buffalo leads the NHL with 12 empty-net goals-against, and haven’t scored while at 6-on-5. Last year, Buffalo led the NHL with 25 empty-net goals-against.
I’ve been at this a long time, and I have never seen a team as bad at 6-on-5 as this one. They don’t compete, they don’t battle, and it’s always in the back of their net.
It’s not good if you give up one goal immediately after scoring, but the Sabres did it four times in one game. The mindless mistakes are taking over their game, as they just look shot mentally.
I don’t understand how the owner doesn’t see it. This is not going to get better until he takes action.
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Meanwhile, Edmonton comes into Tuesday’s game with three wins in four games, and five wins in seven. With a .534 points percentage, the Oilers hold down the first Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. Overall, they’re 22nd in the NHL standings.
Edmonton is 33.3% on the power play, which leads the league. Buffalo has slipped on the penalty kill, only killing seven of their last 11 attempts.
Despite that, the Sabres are still third overall in the NHL at 85.5%.
McDavid is third in scoring with 42 points in 29 games. His 28 assists lead the league.
Leon Draisaitl is seventh in league goal scoring with 17. He’s ninth overall with 37 points.
Join Brian Koziol and myself for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 8 p.m.