The Sabres had a brutal first 40 minutes that put them into a 4-1 hole before getting it to 4-3 in the third before ultimately falling to lowly Columbus 5-3 at home
BUFFALO — When home ice treats you unkindly, it can’t exactly be hidden away, and the Buffalo Sabres can’t hide their home record anymore. They especially can’t do so after a 5-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets that saw them play an uncharacteristically sloppy game in which turnovers mounted and turned into instant scoring chances against.
What sticks out about these moments is how they pile up quickly once a goal against was scored.
At first it seemed like they’d shaken the propensity of letting things snowball when Kent Johnson’s first period power play goal was followed up 18 seconds later by Tage Thompson’s 41st of the season on a trademark snap shot from the right circle.
When that initial feeling of, “Oh it’s going to be like that, huh” disappears seconds later, it feels like a relief and not just for the fans. After all, this game, like others before it at home against Arizona, Vancouver, and Philadelphia among others, was one on paper that should’ve been easy to handle. Columbus is busy dueling with Chicago and Anaheim for getting the best odds to win the draft lottery and not trying to gain an edge in a race for the playoffs. They’ve played better of late, but with Elvis Merzlikins in goal (perhaps the worst goalie in the NHL this season) and the Sabres offense being what it is, on paper, this should’ve been a relaxed game.
Unfortunately for Buffalo, they played things a bit too relaxed, and the Blue Jackets came to play hard, disciplined hockey. That’s a bad combination for the favored team and Columbus took advantage with a frustrating defense that turned the easy-going effort into a nerve-wracking one.
“Obviously we know the magnitude of this game and the magnitude of the moment,” Sabres captain Kyle Okposo said. “We were just committed to doing the work. I just thought we were playing pond hockey in the first period and it’s not a good recipe for success this time of the year.”
Eric Robinson’s first of three goals on the night later in the first gave the Jackets a 2-1 lead that they’d extend to 4-1 with Robinson’s second halfway through the frame and captain Boone Jenner’s goal with 18 seconds remaining in the period. It was Robinson’s back-to-back goals, however, that sent the Sabres into an emotional hole.
The beauty of youth in the NHL is that when they’re flying and playing at the top of their game, it’s exciting and breathtaking. But if hard times arrive, managing those setbacks while in the process of earning your stripes early in your career can mean any down moment can lead to more following right behind it quickly.
“We’re emotional because we care and we want to win and we know the moment, we understand the moment that we’re in,” Okposo said. “We care.”
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No one wants players to be robots and you want everyone to be invested in the success that’s come about. There’s a balance to be struck, but for the majority of this team this is an entirely new set of circumstances and it’s good to want to seize the day and get this team to the playoffs.
You can’t always grit your teeth about making turnovers or slip-ups, but they can’t drag you down for shifts at a time either and that’s something this group is figuring out how to handle. That’s when having a guy like Okposo to lead the way is an advantage.
“I think on the bench we can get a little bit worried about what’s going on instead of just playing,” Okposo said. “We’ve just have to bear down and realize this is a game of momentum and sometimes you’re going to have it and it’s going to go against you other times. There’s other teams in this league that want to win and there’s other really good players in this league. We have to make sure that we’re putting our best foot forward and tonight it was disappointing, but we turn the page and move on.”
If there’s a trait this group has had all season long is that they’re able to put losses aside quickly and get right to the next game without there being a hangover. What’s helped that is in any game where things looked like they could get out of hand, they’ve played hard and didn’t allow teams to roll over them at will. I know you’re thinking about the Carolina and Calgary games, but those are abstracts in the oddball All-Star break schedule and while they’re losses, they’re not indicative of who the Sabres really are.
“I thought we responded well last week, after a dismal effort against Toronto,” goalie Craig Anderson said. “That’s the nice thing about this game is win or lose, play good or play bad, tomorrow is a new day, the sun is going to come up and we have to go put the work boots on.”
Still, being down 4-1 to Columbus would’ve been an opportune moment to hang their heads, instead they were very close to coming all the way back. Efforts like Tuesday night’s, in general, don’t carry over and we see the better side of the Sabres, the one that can be a playoff team in April, the one we’ve seen handle business and earn wins against the best teams in the NHL.
What stood out about Okposo’s words were how the team is very aware of all things surrounding the push for the playoffs. It’s the size of the opportunity for them, a young team that’s coming through ahead of schedule to be a contender for the postseason. It’s the effect making the postseason would have on the fanbase and the city itself after 12 years of missing out. It’s the way the players love playing in Buffalo and for the Sabres and how badly they want to fill the building every night. After all, when Peterka scored to make it 4-3 the building of just over 13,000 fans sounded like 20,000 because the momentum shifted drastically. Sometimes the storybook ending doesn’t come through.
This Sabres team wants to make the postseason dream come true in the end and setbacks like this feel terrible in the moment. With the trade deadline looming on Friday and a road game against the NHL-leading Bruins on Thursday and a re-match with Tampa Bay on Saturday afternoon at home, snapping back into winning form won’t be easy. This is the challenge everyone signs up for in the NHL and every game is a big game the rest of the way. All they have to do now is turn the emotional roller coaster into something more like the emotional