Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres won 10 games in-a-row before losing to the Columbus Blue Jackets, but have since responded by winning three-straight games.
In those three wins, one troubling part of the team’s game has cropped up: The Sabres went on a very long stretch of playing great third periods, and not getting scored on in the process.
In Buffalo's 5-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks last week Tuesday, the Sabres surrendered three goals in the third period, turning a 4-0 deficit into a 4-3 game. Two nights later, the New York Rangers scored 51 seconds into the third period to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 3-2 score, and then were all over Colten Ellis, outshooting the Sabres 11-0 midway through the final frame.
Peyton Krebs also took a double-minor high sticking penalty with just over five minutes remaining, but the team overcame the adversity and won.
Then on Saturday against the Anaheim Ducks, Buffalo played 55 minutes of very good hockey and got out to a 3-0 lead. But in the final five minutes, the teams traded goals, and then the Ducks tacked on two more to make it a 4-3 hockey game. None of it was on goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who had been fantastic throughout.
After the 5-3 win over the Ducks, head coach Lindy Ruff had enough. He said during his postgame press conference that playing like that was unacceptable, and they let their goaltender down.
The Sabres weren’t on the ice Sunday, but they did go through video. Ruff says the topic was the last three third periods.
"We spent most of yesterday on that," said Ruff. "You’re always trying to improve something in your game. I thought we had some real good shifts in the third period [against Anaheim], but there was a couple of times where we deferred to backing out instead of staying on top of the other team.
"We made a couple of mental mistakes late. Even just the last two minutes, for me, were mental mistakes that inside of our system that cost us that we hadn’t been making. I think that’s just focus, and just being ready. And I think our attention to detail had been pretty good, and we’ve had two or three games now where it’s gotten away."
Ruff wouldn’t discuss the lineup for Monday's matchup with the Florida Panthers, other than the fact that Josh Dunne may be going back in.
It seems with the very heavy schedule of the next two weeks, Ruff may be alternating the goalies. Luukkonen played against the Canucks, then it was Ellis against the Rangers, and then Luukkonen against the Ducks. If that's the case, Ellis will get the start Monday against Florida.
Ellis is 5-3-0 this season with a 3.10 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage. He made 30 saves on 32 shots on Thursday after missing almost a month due to a concussion.
The Sabres have moved up to 19th in the NHL with a 3.19 goals-against average.
Buffalo still sits in the No. 1 Wild Card position in the Eastern Conference with a points percentage of .605. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins are next at .580, while the Panthers are 12th at .557.
Florida has lost 4-of-6 games as injuries have killed this team.
Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk and Dmitry Kulikov have missed most of the season, while Seth Jones has missed the last four games and Brad Marchand has missed the last two.
Marchand is the team’s leading scorer with 23 goals and 23 assists for 46 points.
Sergei Bobrovsky is in goal for most of their games. He’s 18-12-1 this season with a 2.90 goals-against average and an .881 save percentage. Against Buffalo, he’s 16-8-2 with a 2.60 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is in town on Monday, and will be speaking at 6 p.m. to reportedly announce the NHL Draft returning to Buffalo in June.
You’ll be able to hear the press conference live on WGR Sports Radio 550.
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