(WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres weren’t ready to play, weren’t ready to battle, and weren’t ready to win a hockey game on Monday in Seattle, losing 6-4 to the Kraken.
Seattle scored three different times immediately after Buffalo had scored, which is another huge weakness of this team.
After a Jack Quinn goal goes in for Buffalo off a Seattle player to make it 1-0, formers Sabres winger John Hayden, along with Mitch Stephens, completely outworked Nic Aube-Kubel, Bo Byram and Rasmus Dahlin to tie the game 27 seconds later.
Buffalo was better in the second period at winning battles, and eventually made a 3-1 deficit into a tied game at 3-3.
Jason Zucker is one of the few Sabres players that will post up at the net, and he tipped in Dahlin’s power play shot from the point.
Tage Thompson then worked hard to keep a puck in the offensive zone, took a few steps and let it rip to beat Joey Daccord for is 20th goal of the season.
However, just 56 seconds later, Zucker was late getting to Jamie Oleksiak, who closed in from the left point to beat Devon Levi with a shot that you’d like to get a save on. That made it 4-3, Seattle.
You would think erasing a two-goal deficit would spark this team, but it didn’t even come close.
In the third period, trailing 5-3, Ruff pulled Levi and Alex Tuch converted a Dylan Cozens rebound to make it 5-4 with 1:21 left. However, Quinn was soft on the wall trying to keep a puck in the zone, and Kraken forward Jared McCann scored just 17 seconds after Tuch to make it a 6-4 final.
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If there was one player I liked in this game, it was the return of Jiri Kulich.
Kulich missed four games with a lower-body injury, and worked his way open in the slot on the first shift of the game, only to be stopped by Daccord. He did it again later in the game, but Daccord stopped him again.
While Kulich wasn’t as fast as you’ll see him, he should be able to ramp up quickly. He had six shot in 16:26 of ice-time.
In the end, when you lose a majority of the battles and leave the middle of the ice open all afternoon long, you’re not going to win. There’s really not anything more to say.
This organization is a train wreck, starting at the top and filtering right down through to the players. Very little is done right, but you can start with owner Terry Pegula and go from there.
The only one with experience at his job is head coach Lindy Ruff, followed by a few players. That is why there’s no consistency. That is why the Sabres are the worst team in the Eastern Conference, and one of the worst teams in the National Hockey League. It’s not a fluke.
Looking to next Saturday, the Edmonton Oilers won’t have their superstar player against the Sabres, because Connor McDavid has been suspended three games for a vicious cross-check to the face of the Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland.
In the same game, former Sabres defenseman Tyler Myers did the same to Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard. He, too, is suspended three games, and will miss Tuesday’s game against the Sabres.