There’s not much else to glean from a 10-4 loss other than figuring out what exactly the problem is and what can be done about it
BUFFALO — “Something good has to come of this,” Buffalo Sabres coach Don Granato said after his team took a 10-4 loss at home on the chin against the Dallas Stars.
Finding positives in a game like that is nearly as tall of a task as it is having the youngest team in the NHL try to lock down a playoff spot in their first experience tracking one down. This brutal loss came exactly a week after a 7-1 loss on the road against the Boston Bruins that played out in somewhat similar fashion.
Mental and game mistakes turned into goals against and even though efforts were made to try to get back into it, late third period goals turned what was a close game into an embarrassing laugher for their foes. That they came against top teams like Boston and Dallas offered little consolation because those teams are looking at finishing at the top of their conferences, it’s about how the Sabres handled (or didn’t) their own end of things.
In each of those games, would be/could be/need-to-be starting goalies Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Eric Comrie bore the brunt of the full 60 minutes. Luukkonen was at least spared with his goals-against average because of a pair of empty-net goals, but Comrie had to eat all 10 against Dallas. In both games, however, no one was blameless although Granato and the players made sure to say it wasn’t the goalies’ fault for getting run out of the barn.
“We absolutely hung him out to dry and that can’t happen,” Sabres captain Kyle Okposo said. “Those turnovers in our zone, the carelessness when the game got out of hand there. That’s something you learn when you’re eight years old – you don’t hang your goalie out to dry and we did that tonight. Like I said, uncharacteristic of our group but something that’s going to be discussed.”
Having that discussion twice in a week doesn’t inspire confidence during what’s the most pressure-packed point of the season. But there’s a snowball effect of how little things can make big implosions occur.
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Something defenseman Rasmus Dahlin spoke of after the game is something I’ve heard across hockey over the years about how he spent too much time thinking and not reacting to plays. Hockey at this level is so instinctual as opposed to being real-time strategy. Knowing breakouts, knowing where your teammates are or are supposed to be, knowing their tendencies, all of that are what top teams are able to do in the toughest of circumstances. Even teams that have been together for seasons will go through bouts of not being on the same page and getting stuck trying to plot their way out of a funk.
The Sabres did find ways to get the sizable Stars leads cut down, knocking it back to two-goal deficits on a few occasions only to have the Stars get it back to three not long after. A collective stubbing of toes hurts a bit more in a playoff hunt than it does, say, in November, but looking like you’re packing it up in games in which mistakes wore you down is rough aesthetically.
One thing Okposo noted postgame was about the team and their energy level as compared to where they are in the standings and what they’ve done so far this season.
“In this game, we did not have it and it was pretty evident right from the beginning,” Okposo said. “We just seemed a little bit lifeless, a little tired. It’s just tough to play this time of the year when you’re not feeling your best and we just have to find a way to get that energy back and understand the position that we’re in. I know that we’re a young team, but we’re in a pretty special position with the group that we have. It would be a shame to come out and play like that, but in saying that, it’s uncharacteristic of our group.”
If this was a more veteran group who has been through it before and had a lot of NHL seasons stacked up on the back of their hockey cards, this would be a humungous problem and probably would’ve led to a post-game meeting in the room. And as much as no one in the fan base wants to keep hearing it, it is a new thing for 90 percent of the roster at this level. Some players haven’t had a season-long grind like this and have a shot at the postseason and the hopes of the entire fan base freshly in their minds. This kind of situation presents a physical and an emotional price to pay. These are new experiences and they’re feeling every single one of them, good and bad. It’s just that the bad has happened a bit more frequently.
“We might put too much pressure on ourselves,” Dahlin said. “We really want this. You really, really want to give it a push. So, I don’t know what it is, maybe we think too much and whatnot.”
The cynic would say if the pressure on themselves is doing this, then the pressure from the outside would be crushing. Ah, but it’s all one in the same, you see and it’s all new to them. Live it, feel it, experience it, learn from it. It’s like “live, laugh, love” for sports, but not annoying and doesn’t quite make you want to wretch. Tomorrow is another day and Saturday brings another tough game, this one against the New York Rangers, but the days are getting short and long nights like this one cannot be repeated.
“You have to learn from your mistakes, because everybody makes mistakes,” Granato said. “The faster you learn, the better. Tonight, has to be one of those unfortunate negative outcomes, bad memories that makes you better. We’ve all had those in life. It has to be impactful and tonight, that’s the good that has to come of it.
“Something good has to come of this.”