It’s been a little while since the Buffalo Sabres have dealt with some variety of hardship and now the challenge of how they decide to handle it is upon them after a rude awakening loss in regulation to the Detroit Red Wings.
Final: Detroit wins 5-2
The Game: As poor as the Sabres effort was in the first two periods against Boston, it was their lack of discipline that sunk them against Detroit.
After a solid opening few minutes, including the first minute which saw quality chances from Josh Doan and Alex Tuch, it was an offensive zone penalty for high-sticking by Josh Norris that opened the door for the Red Wings at 3:57. The infraction happened behind John Gibson’s net and put an immediate halt to their solid start. It took the Red Wings power play five seconds to capitalize when Alex DeBrincat tipped a shot by Moritz Seider off Alex Lyon and then buried his own rebound for a 1-0 lead.
That goal took any momentum the Sabres built early on and crushed it and the Wings seized the moment to push back more. A little over four minutes after DeBrincat’s goal, Logan Stanley took a poor interference penalty in the defensive zone as the Sabres looked to break out and put the Wings back on the power play.
It took the Red Wings just 46 seconds to make it 2-0 after Conor Timmins’ clearing attempt was gloved down at the blue line by Seider who then fed Lucas Raymond for his 23rd goal of the season. Getting beat is one thing and will happen, of course, but setting up your opponent to beat you is the kind of thing that drives everyone bonkers. That kind of self-inflicted damage set the tone for Buffalo for most of the rest of the game.
Even though they weathered most of the rest of the period, the effects of the previous errors still lingered in their play. That worked against them when Marco Kasper made it 3-0 at 16:06 following a couple of bang-on saves from Lyon on Emmitt Finnie. The Sabres weren’t able to corral the rebounds. Kasper got a pass from Finnie and quickly put a backhand off of Lyon, grabbed the rebound, spun around and scored. There was an air of some of the early-season woes in how Buffalo handled things in the first and Detroit was able to help make it worse.
“Frustrating first, for sure,” Lyon said. “I think, I’ve been saying it all year, we’re going to hit adversity at some point, and we’ve had a long, sustained stretch of really excellent play, and now we’re hitting a little bit of adversity. The way we responded in the second was extremely positive. I could’ve stopped a few more in the first, maybe it’s a different game. There’s a million different sliding-scale factors that contributed to that first period.”
Despite a 3-0 lead, that’s the exact kind of lead that’s unsafe in the NHL. The feeling was that if the Sabres got the next goal, the pace and momentum of the game would swing quickly. Tage Thompson delivered with a one-timer 5:35 into the period after a pass from Peyton Krebs.
As much as we’ve talked about the Sabres ability to stay level emotionally, they’re still able to thrive off of scoring goals and use it to change games. The Sabres outshot the Wings 12-3 in the second period and from the moment after Thompson’s goal, they were poised to make the game vastly more interesting. But the penalties returned in the third. Rasmus Dahlin was guilty of a textbook high stick, early in the period that the penalty killers took care of.
Thompson was called for a high-sticking double-minor nearly four minutes after Dahlin’s penalty. On replay, it appeared Thompson’s stick went into Simon Edvinsson’s face because of the follow through of Edvinsson’s clearing attempt, but the officials reviewed it and confirmed the call. Buffalo was even more effective killing off the penalty and had a smidge more momentum back from the kill. But Detroit held firm and defended well. Shots were 7-7 in the third and in a game where the Red Wings were playing from in front, that put the game away.
“We know we can score and find our way back in the game,” Thompson said. “Just definitely not the position you want to be in. I think we just looked at it as an opportunity to see what we’re made of in here. I thought that push in the second was really good and then obviously I thought in the third there, they get another couple power plays, four minutes off mine, and that gives them life. Obviously deflates our team. “
Jacob Bernard-Docker, who you may remember from the Sabres last season and Kevyn Adams not qualifying him as a restricted free agent over the summer, scored to make it 4-1 with 4:14 left. Dahlin got that goal right back 39 seconds later, but Patrick Kane’s empty-net goal finished it off.
It’s three straight losses for the Sabres but they’re 0-1-2 in that stretch. They haven’t played great and the mistakes have been more than obvious. It’s a lull they were due to have at some point and, voila, it’s here. With a game against the Seattle Kraken at 5:30 on Saturday, the chance to nip this little skid in the butt is right there, but Lane Lambert’s team will make it deeply frustrating to play.
“I think the first period is the key, playing a good first period,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “When you get down by a couple and you start chasing the game, it makes it hard because teams this time of year are just going to kind of go into prevent, make sure they have people back. We left a lot of opportunities out there obviously. I thought their goalie made a couple pretty big saves at key times. But I think, for me, it’s going to boil down to how we come out in that first period (Saturday) night.”
The last time the Sabres lost three games in a row was the start of the six-game road trip that ultimately turned the season on its head. Those were all regulation losses, however, and none of those games were well played at all. The mood in the room after Friday’s game was not one of worry, but more of annoyance at not being better. Fans are obviously not feeling great about seeing the Ls pile up, but the players are onto the next game like always.
“Tomorrow, it’s going to show what type of team we are,” Dahlin said. “We have to show ourselves that we got to dig ourselves out of this. This is unacceptable.”
What’s new: The Sabres sent Zach Metsa to Rochester on Thursday. Ruff said Friday morning they wanted him to play games instead of sitting around in the press box. Rochester desperately needs him and the fact he jumped back into action with the Americans on Friday night against Toronto in a 5-2 win, they’re second straight victory, is a good sign. The Americans are desperate to get back into the playoffs and their lead on the final playoff spot is just four points on Belleville. Metsa is the team captain in Rochester and getting him back after playing so well in Buffalo is huge for them, even if a lot of NHL fans aren’t happy about it.
Noah Östlund did not play against Detroit after getting banged up against Boston. He skated at the very optional morning skate on Friday and spoke with us afterwards. He feels OK and Ruff listed him as day-to-day. Tanner Pearson returned to the lineup in his stead and had an assist in 5:43 TOI on the fourth line with Sam Carrick and Beck Malenstyn. The day-to-day status means he could play against Seattle, or they could just give him another day to recover and be ready for Tuesday’s game against the New York Islanders.
Standings: The Sabres remain in first place in the Atlantic Division with 96 points. Tampa Bay sits two points behind them with 94 and has two games in hand, however because they have two fewer games played, the Lightning have a higher points percentage than the Sabres by .004. Technically, that would put Tampa Bay ahead of Buffalo in the standings, but actual points rule all until proven otherwise. Whatever.
Montréal has 90 points in third place and also has two games in hand. The Sabres remain equal in points with Carolina for the best record in the Eastern Conference. Carolina also has two games in hand on the Sabres and has the best points percentage in the East (.676).
The Sabres magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 11. A win over Seattle would drop it to nine. The knife fight for the final two wild card spots can wreak havoc on where the magic number goes, but Sabres wins knock it down no matter what. Other teams can help knock it down more by losing.