The Sabres blew a 5-3 third period lead and lost 6-5 in a shootout to division rival Detroit to extend their winless streak to seven games.
BUFFALO — Call it a must-win game if you want to, but when a team is deep into a losing streak like this, every game is a must-win just to break up the monotony and misery of coming out on the short end game after game. But when the opponent is also neck-deep into a losing streak, throwing the weight off your own back and onto your opponent is reason enough to win.
The Detroit Red Wings came into Buffalo riding their own five-game losing streak compared to the six-game skid the Sabres were mired in. Just like when the Winnipeg Jets arrived in town with a four-game losing streak and left town piling that pressure on the Sabres, the Red Wings did the same in a way that helped turn the knife a bit more on Buffalo.
The Sabres blew a 5-3 lead with less than 10 minutes to play in the third period and lost 6-5 in a shootout. If it wasn’t for the mind-blowing collapse against the Colorado Avalanche a week ago, this particular loss to a similarly fighting it Detroit team would ache in the bones to ponder. Instead, the feeling left behind from this seventh straight Sabres loss is a brutal kind of shellshock.
“We looked tight, and that’s product of not winning,” Tage Thompson said. “Lose however many in a row, it’s easier for you to grip your stick a little tighter, be a little more nervous to make a mistake. Usually you do that, it just compounds things, makes it worse. So it’s just got to be a mindset. You just got to want the puck on your stick, want to be the guy that’s going to make a play, and I think right now, we just look nervous to have the puck. I think we’re just afraid to make mistakes and lose a game when we have leads. That’s what it looks like to me, how it feels.”
More ahead on another frustrating loss for a team that’s deep into hard times.
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Let’s get one thing straight about Monday’s game: It was a terrible game.
It was sloppy, the goaltending was not good, and even with all the skill players out there for both teams, those teams’ collective confidence levels were virtually empty considering they were both deep into long losing streaks.
It was incredible to see Detroit starter Ville Husso, who’s been fighting it since he signed with the Red Wings in 2022, allow three goals on seven shots in the first period and pulled from the game after 20 minutes only to be replaced by rookie Sebastian Cossa, thus making his NHL debut. Cossa was up with Detroit because both Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon are injured. Cossa looked every bit of nervous throughout the game, but especially right off the bat and the Sabres took advantage of that in the second.
Of course, the Sabres entered the second period with a 3-2 lead because starter James Reimer wasn’t having a great night either against one of his former teams. Rebounds were an issue and puck tracking was a little tricky, although he was able to make an incredible stick save on Alex DeBrincat on a 2-on-1 play in the first.
But the 22-year-old Cossa looked every bit of nervous. Nicolas Aube-Kubel’s goal against him came after an Owen Power shot went off Beck Malenstyn and went right to Aube-Kubel for an easy put-away with Cossa way up high in his crease. That he also got beat by Jason Zucker for his second goal of the night when he got in behind the Red Wings defenders and took it to the net was the kind of goal anyone could give up. But in two periods and overtime, Cossa faced 14 shots, and he stopped two out of three against him in the shootout with only Alex Tuch’s attempt getting past him.
That’s a poor showing against any goalie in that amount of time, but they also only attempted 35 shots in all situations as well. No game is ever easy for any goalie, but for a guy playing his first NHL minutes, the shots and attempts he faced may have gotten him jumping out of his skin, but he didn’t have to see too many of them in the first place.
“It’s easy to say that, but I thought we were making some good plays,” Zucker said. “There’s a lot more we’ve got to worry about than just getting more shots.”
Zucker’s right, but it’s a whole list of things they’ve got to worry about and on this night, shots were a big part of it. In their last game, execution of some of the basic parts of the game were problems and they cleaned that up against Detroit. Offside calls were non-existent in the game (it was called once all game long), the passes were better, care with the puck was improved as well. Still, there were lapses in judgment happened and they turned into scoring chances and goals, and they occurred too often to be comfortable with.
“I’m going to use the line I’ve used with you guys,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “They’ve got good lines too and you’ve got to be really comfortable being in an uncomfortable situation and that’s what we’re in right now. We’re in a real hard time that you’ve got to get comfortable with that you have to decide, ‘I have to be a guy that can make a difference. I have to show composure under a lot of stress,’ and it might be one guy on the ice that’s showing it, might be a couple guys.
“I thought we showed some pretty good composure in our D-zone, a couple times we got caught tired, which was a lot better than the previous game. But you’ve got to be comfortable there. You’ve got to be able to handle the pressure of the game and there was a couple times with their best line—you ice it, their best line comes on the ice—you know you can be in a little bit of trouble.”
This was a game where nit-picking different issues was easy.
The Red Wings entered the game with the league’s second worst penalty kill (66.7 percent) with only the New York Islanders having a worse one (65.1 percent). The Sabres went 0-for-2 in their two opportunities against the Isles back on Nov. 30 and again Monday night against Detroit. Not many chances, we know, but not cashing in even once is tough and they got only one shot on goal in the two opportunities they had.
The Sabres penalty kill was excellent in preventing the Red Wings’ very good power play from scoring in three opportunities of their own but not being able to punch through against their PK stings because it’s such a glaring weakness. Had we covered the Isles game, the sentiment would’ve been the same, especially considering they were shutout that game. But not capitalizing against Detroit when they gave up five as it was stands out.
This goes back to just not being able to generate shots on goal and both power plays happened while Cossa was in the game. If this season turns into one where a shot at the playoffs is missed by only a few points, tack this game onto the list of ones that sting to look back on for the point(s) squandered.
“I think we made some good plays that allowed us to score, like sometimes the next play,” Ruff said. “I thought two or three plays at the start of the game that we could’ve shot, that was a little bit of a negative, but I thought at the same time we made some plays that allowed us to score a couple nice goals. I thought coming in on the angle a couple of times we had traffic, we could’ve got it there. We had a couple blocked and then when we went behind the net on a couple and we took too long, and it all closed down on us. There was opportunities to get more pucks there for sure.”
Jordan Greenway returned to the lineup on Monday and that’s a good thing. Ruff sent a message to J-J Peterka during practice on Sunday having him rotate in on the third line in what showed he could’ve been scratched for Monday. He was not, however, and returned to the top line with Thompson and Alex Tuch. Jiri Kulich was scratched for Greenway’s return and was back with Zucker and Ryan McLeod on a line.
The advanced stats were OK and Zucker did score twice with an assist, but Greenway’s minutes were a bit limited (14:39) and since it was his first game back after missing 10, it makes sense.
To activate Greenway, Rasmus Dahlin was retroactively put on IR. Ruff said Monday morning that there’s hope Dahlin could return at some point over the weekend, but with a road back-to-back in Washington and Toronto you wonder if that would happen. It’s all up to how Dahlin’s back feels and with back spasms that can change day to day.
The Rangers come to town on Wednesday night for a game on TNT and considering they’re fighting it and just lost in regulation at home to the Chicago Blackhawks, they’re probably not going to be in a great mood either having lost eight of their past 10 games. All I’m sure of is the guys on the TNT panel will have plenty of fodder to roast both teams.