Salt Lake City, Utah (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Forget about injuries and feeling sorry for the Buffalo Sabres. What we witnessed in Salt Lake City on Wednesday was a complete and utter embarrassment, and one we’ve seen more times than we can count over the last 14 years.
The faces change, but the effort and the results rarely do.
Midway through their 5-2 loss to the Utah Mammoth, Buffalo had a 2-0 lead, getting secondary scoring from the line of Noah Ostlund, Isak Rosen and Jack Quinn.
For 40 minutes, Quinn was Buffalo’s best player.
On the first goal, Quinn took the puck to the net and while he was doing that, Rosen totally outbattled Nick DiSimone in the crease. Quinn put a perfect pass on Rosen’s stick, and he steered the puck past Karel Vejmelka in goal for Utah.
Early in the second period, Rosen breaks out of the zone with a pass to Quinn. He gains the zone and the puck is knocked to Rosen who put a perfect pass behind him to Ostlund. The winger didn’t admire his work, though, as he kept going to the right circle and made himself available to Ostlund.
The next pass to Rosen was right in his wheelhouse in the right circle, and he ripped home his third goal in five games.
Colten Ellis was making his second NHL start and was stellar, making huge saves and leaving very few rebounds. The only goal Ellis allowed through 40 minutes was a shot from the right point that he never saw, because Josh Dunne screened him.
There were a few things that could’ve changed this game.
Buffalo had two golden opportunities to make the game 3-1. Utah turned the puck over and Dunne found himself alone in front eye-to-eye with Vejmelka. The goaltender made the save, but was down-and-out with Josh Doan looking at a sure goal. Doan pretty much fanned, and hardly even got a shot off. Then Michael Kesselring got the rebound, and put the backhand right back into Vejmelka.
Before the period ended, Jordan Greenway was all alone down the slot, he took his time, picked his spot and - you guessed it - he hit the post.
Despite being outshot after 40 minutes, 23-16, the Sabres had more shot attempts and more blocked shots.
The only thing the Sabres needed to clean up was finding a way to slow down the line of Nick Schmaltz, Logan Cooley and Clayton Keller. They were all over the Sabres, and eventually made them pay. Buffalo couldn’t handle their speed or their desire to win every battle to win a hockey game.
In five periods against Buffalo, JJ Peterka was totally invisible.
He woke up just 52 seconds into the third period when Bo Byram had Peterka, but let him get away. Peterka blew past Peyton Krebs and Beck Malenstyn, and used his wicked shot to beat Ellis to make it 2-2.
After that, Utah blew Buffalo right out of the arena, as there was zero resistance and a lot of puck watching. The Mammoth scored four third-period goals.
Utah’s best players were their best players, and they won them the game. Buffalo's best players were pathetic, and that’s putting it nicely.
After a good third period in Carolina, where both Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch scored, you would’ve thought they’d build on that. They didn’t, and they were awful, as those two and their center Ryan McLeod had zero shots for the night and very little offensive zone time.
The only way this team can overcome injuries and sickness is if Thompson and Tuch are leading the way, and they aren’t.
"Our line was not good enough. That’s something we would’ve liked to have built on (the third period in Carolina), but we didn’t," Tuch said following the loss. "It’s unacceptable, and we just need to be better. There’s no other way to say it."
Ellis had to make 32 saves on 36 shots, and Tuch knows they hung the rookie out to dry.
"He was unbelievable for us. He was amazing, and goals that did go in were really good goals and he didn’t have a chance on, because there were breakdowns and we gave up really bad opportunities. We have to be better as a whole, including me," Tuch said.
So now what? Nothing ever changes here.
General manager Kevyn Adams got a sixth year when he never would’ve, had he been in any other organization. He got paralyzed and just sat back last season in late November, and watched his team go winless in 13 games and do absolutely nothing.
Here we are once again, that early season test to see if this team can overcome adversity. It’s a test they’ve failed 14 years in-a-row.
This team has one win in eight games. They’ve lost four-straight games, with a road game in Colorado coming up on Thursday against the Avalanche, followed by another road game in Detroit on Saturday against the Red WIngs.
If they don’t get three out of four points, which they’ve shown no capability of doing so far, they will likely be out of it once again by Sunday.
The Avalanche won their matchup with the Sabres back on Oct. 13 in Buffalo.
Buffalo is dead-last in the Eastern Conference, and are now five points out of a playoff spot with eight teams to leapfrog. There is no way all eight teams are going to go into the dumpster while the Sabres go on a long winning streak.
If you’re going to have injuries, you can’t have your best players doing nothing. That’s exactly what’s happening here, but owner Terry Pegula must be happy with what he’s seen in the last five years. He’s seeing progress, because the general manager is still here.
Raise your hand if you’re seeing progress.
Buffalo faces the Avalanche on Thursday, which is a team that’s had one regulation loss all season. They have played 17 games and have points in 16 of them. Colorado leads the NHL with a points percentage of .794. They’re also 5-0-2 at home.
The Sabres are in their 14-year comfort zone of last place in the Eastern Conference, and 30th in the NHL with a points percentage of .438. There’s a pretty good chance it’ll all be over again before the holidays, and then they can play another season with no pressure to perform.
Join Brian Koziol and myself on Thursday night for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 8 p.m.
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