BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres hit a new low against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.
That’s not an easy thing to do as a franchise that has missed the playoffs for 13 straight seasons. But not once in Sabres history had the team ever blown a four-goal lead to lose in regulation at home. That’s exactly what they did on Tuesday, storming out to a 4-0 lead in the first period against the Avalanche and taking a 4-1 lead into the third period before collapsing to a 5-4 regulation loss. The announced attendance was just under 15,000, and most who stuck around to see the entire meltdown were booing when the clock hit :00.
Alex Tuch, who arrived in Buffalo three years ago enthusiastic about playing for his childhood favorite team, looked shell-shocked answering questions in the dressing room after the game.
“It just sucks, honestly,” said Tuch, one of Buffalo’s four alternate captains. “We have to be better. Each and every guy has to be better. It’s honestly horses–t. Pardon my French, but it is.
“We left (goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen) hanging. We left each other hanging. We weren’t working for each other after the first period. We thought it was going to be easy, they were just going to go into a hole. But that’s the former Stanley Cup champs over there. One of the best players in the world, one of the best defensemen in the world. You can’t give them opportunities like that. It’s total crap.”
Buffalo’s other two healthy alternate captains, Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens, both said they felt players panicked once the Avalanche started to cut into the Sabres’ lead. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff used the same word in his postgame news conference.
And that panic was plain to see on the ice. In the first 12 minutes of game action against the Avalanche, the Sabres looked like a team ready to bust a slump. Tage Thompson scored two quick goals, his first since returning from injury last week. Then JJ Peterka snapped an eight-game goal drought and Beck Malenstyn followed it up with his first goal in more than a month and a half. The Sabres finished the first period with 76 percent of expected goals and a 7-0 advantage in high-danger chances. It looked like they were going to coast to a dominant win at home.
But in the visitor locker room, Avalanche coach Jared Bednar was relatively calm. He thought there was plenty of time for the Avalanche to get back into the game.
It’s easier to think that way when you have Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar.
From the first shift of the second period, MacKinnon started to take over. In the first 1:23 of the second period, the Avalanche had seven shot attempts and three shots on goal while buzzing around Buffalo’s zone. When MacKinnon scored 2:24 into the second period, that should have been the Sabres’ wake-up call. The Avalanche decisively controlled play for the rest of the period, but the Sabres still had a 4-1 lead after two periods.
The Avalanche kept pressing, scoring 1:19 into the third period. That’s when the panic started to creep in. At that point, Rasmus Dahlin had played his only shift of the third period. He left the game with back spasms, the injury that plagued him in the preseason. That didn’t help the panic dissipate.
The Avalanche scored three minutes after that, and Ruff called a timeout to try to calm his players down. It didn’t work, because the Avalanche scored again three minutes later to tie the game.
“I don’t think we were too negative on the bench,” Tuch said. “I don’t think we reacted quick enough. We were talking. I just don’t think we were reactive enough to really have three guys get together, your line’s up, let’s get the momentum back in our favor. It happened a couple of times, but not enough.”
There’s plenty of blame to go around after a loss like that. You can start with a group of players who openly admitted to panicking after the Avalanche started to push back when down 4-0. Over the last two seasons, the Sabres would call a loss like this a learning experience. They’re still the youngest team in the NHL by age, but they’ve played plenty of games and had enough embarrassing losses. Whatever lesson you can extract from a game like this one is a lesson that should be obvious to every player in that room.
“We’ve had enough wake-up calls,” Thompson said. “It’s terrible. That’s all there is to it.”
Added Cozens: “We’ve all been in this league long enough. That’s not an excuse anymore. There’s absolutely no excuses for what happened tonight. It’s embarrassing and just not good enough.”
The Sabres had a chance to end a three-game losing streak and get back above .500. Instead, they’re below .500 and have slipped into a tie for seventh in the wild-card standings in the Eastern Conference. A week ago they were sitting in a playoff spot after a three-game winning streak in California. They haven’t won since and aren’t giving fans a reason to do anything but boo.
“We’re not making KeyBank a hard enough place to play right now,” Tuch said. “That falls on me. That falls on all the guys in this locker room. We’ll be better.”
Tuch has to say they’ll be better, but it’s also far from a guarantee. This wasn’t one early season hiccup. It was a historic collapse one game after the team came out flat against the Islanders. It’s been 25 games, so the 11-12-2 record is starting to look representative of what this team is. Asked what makes him think this group is capable of learning, Tuch was exasperated.
“I don’t know,” Tuch said. “Where were we a couple years ago? I still think we’re light-years ahead of where we were. I still think we’re light-years ahead individually. I think we’ve added pieces that really help us. For the majority of this year we’ve played a really solid team game. It’s the mental lapses and the slip-ups that we just have to hone in. That’s how you win. You minimize your mistakes and maximize your opportunities.”
The thing is, the Sabres aren’t light-years ahead of where they were two years ago. Two years ago they finished with 91 points and missed the playoffs by a point. Multiple players, including Tuch, set career highs in goals and points. Since then, they’ve gone backwards. After the Sabres finished with 84 points last season, general manager Kevyn Adams fired Don Granato and replaced him with Ruff. He talked more about how the team was in “win now” mode but then left more than $7 million in salary cap space unspent while adding five forwards to the bottom six of the depth chart.
“For me, it’s never been about that,” Adams said when asked about the cap space before the season. “It’s been about putting a roster together that we believe can win.”
And when asked about not adding another scorer, Adams said, “For me the talent is there and now it’s how do we make sure we’re playing the right way and doing all of those little things that help our team improve and players improve individually. We feel confident that they will.”
It’s becoming increasingly clear Adams again banked too much on internal growth from the team’s young players. Jack Quinn hasn’t scored a goal against a goalie all season. The Avalanche had a 14-3 advantage in scoring chances when Cozens was on the ice at five-on-five. Owen Power was physically dominated in front of the Sabres’ net on the game-winning goal and finished minus-three.
Adams has reportedly been active on the trade market early in the season, but that hasn’t resulted in any moves to improve the roster. This team is exactly two points better than it was through 25 games last season. That falls on the person who put the roster together. It’s also on owner Terry Pegula, who hasn’t guided the Sabres to the playoffs in a full season under his ownership.
Two days ago, Pegula got a game ball from Bills coach Sean McDermott after the team clinched its fifth straight AFC East title in a jubilant, snowy atmosphere in Orchard Park. What’s his plan to bring a similar celebration downtown?
(Top photo of Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen: Timothy T. Ludwig / Imagn Images)
