Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres are, once again, having consistency issues with a 5-4-1 record in their last 10 games. The Sabres are also comfortably in last place in the Atlantic Division, trailing the next team above them by four points.
With a chance to win a third-straight game this past Saturday, the Sabres hosted a struggling Seattle Kraken squad, and got off to a hot start by entering the first intermission with a 2-0 lead. However, the game quickly shifted in favor of Seattle, and the Sabres ended up surrendering six unanswered goals in a 6-2 loss at KeyBank Center.
A lot of what went wrong for the Sabres in that game was a shift away from their style of play, despite their early success.
"Obviously, we did not like the loss. Didn't like the shift of mentality from how we were attacking and aggressive, and the shooting mentality we had in that first period. We just didn't play with that same amount of urgency the rest of the game, which was disappointing, the game we felt we had and control," said Sabres assistant coach Seth Appert during an appearance on the "Jeremy and Joe Show" on Tuesday. "But all you can do is go back and attack some areas of weakness yesterday in practice. We'll do it again today, try to get our guys in the proper mindset to play a very good Carolina [Hurricanes] team tomorrow night."
The Sabres have not been able to consistently continue the same style of play throughout much of this season, leading to up-and-down scoring. One of the main problems within that is their lack of defensive success.
"At the end of the day, there's a winning formula in the National Hockey League, and it is not by trading chances with your opponent. That is not a recipe for long-term success," Appert said with Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase on WGR. "To give up a bunch of line rush chances against, that is usually death. So we want to be an aggressive, attacking team. We want to put pressure on our opponents, but we want to check, and we need to check. We need to be a great defensive team. The better defensive teams in this league win, and so that's the process we're going through right now, is to evolve from that maybe loose and free team a couple years ago into being a team that still can create lot of offense, while also not giving away free offense to your opponent."
Related
Sabres winger Jack Quinn has been one of the main bright spots on the team's roster as of late, recording four points in his last five games. Quinn has struggled to stay healthy over the past two seasons with a pair of significant lower-body injuries that have affected his form of playing.
"It's no secret he had tough start the season, and I think he's worked very hard to address some of the areas of concern, and to improve on some of those areas," Appert said of his winger. "We've seen some real good things out of him over the last month or so. He was out of the lineup for a while, and since he's been back in the lineup, there's been a consistency to his intentions, very, very good intentions. He's trying to do the right things. To his offense, both at 5-on-5, but especially in the power play, been very good on the power play for us over the last month or so. And he's helped that unit take a big step forward right now."
The Sabres and Hurricanes will drop the puck at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, with pregame coverage on WGR starting at 5 p.m. with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog.