While cheering for the Buffalo Sabres has been the bleakest of all possible NHL fan choices over the past 13 years, the experience hasn't been without a few recent glimmers. Despite the league-leading playoff drought, the Sabres have managed to avoid the absolute dregs of the East by putting together a few scrappy hot streaks here and there, inspiring a bit of hope that they can steal an eight seed soon. With big-shot draft picks in Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power, a strong vet acquired for a former big-shot draft pick in Alex Tuch, the breakout stardom of tall center Tage Thompson, the arrival of yet another young and talented defender in Bowen Byram, and an apparent solution in goal named Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, there was a scenario in which the Sabres could perhaps take advantage of the Atlantic Division's aging top half and underachieving bottom half.
For the first chunk of this season, Buffalo didn't disabuse anyone of that notion. The Sabres won most of their games against worse teams and got breaks in a few others, which, combined with a slow start from the Boston Bruins, had them top-eight by points percentage in the East at Thanksgiving. But ever since they returned from a perfect West Coast trip for eight straight games in the state of New York, they have dutifully undone all that good work. The Sabres have lost every one of these N.Y. games, including seven in Buffalo, with the chilly spell culminating in a 3-2 defeat to the Rangers on Wednesday.
The past three losses were each a different kind of disappointing. Saturday's 5-2 outcome against Utah was a classic example of an inexperienced team losing the plot, as the Hockey Clubeans dominated a middle period that had fans booing the Sabres off the ice. Utah scored five straight after a 1-0 first period, and even though the Sabres regrouped a little for a token effort after everything got out of hand, the embarrassment in the postgame was palpable.
"This is mentally one of the weakest games I've seen," said new (and also former) Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff.
In response, Buffalo scored early and often on Monday against the similarly blighted Detroit Red Wings, benefiting from some subpar goalie play to take a 5-3 lead into the third. They were woefully unprepared to protect that lead, however, and lost 6-5 in the shootout.
“I think we need to look at it straight in the face, honestly,” said Jason Zucker, a first-time Sabre who's also by far the oldest skater on the team. “I think we need to know that it’s seven in a row. We need to look in the mirror and go get after it. There’s no reason to sit here and be like ‘Oh, we’re doing this.’ We’ve lost seven in a row."
Wednesday's game against the Rangers had the opposite problem as the game against Detroit: The Sabres just couldn't start the car. Facing a shaky but dangerous opponent, Buffalo took an early goal on the chin but otherwise rode Luukkonen all the way into a 1-0 spot late in the third. A Nicolas Aubé-Kubel fight right in front of hyped-up Bills lineman Dion Dawkins could have provided an emotional boost for the final stretch; instead, New York doubled its lead in a way that had Buffalo banging their heads against the wall. Adam Fox created chaos with a shot off the boards, and in the confusion Reilly Smith was able to boop the puck off Owen Power's skate and in. Power redeemed himself with a quick response to get Buffalo on the board, but a Rangers empty-netter made Thompson's last-minute goal a case of too little, too late.
So what's the problem with the Sabres? Some of it is health. Dahlin and Thompson are the team's two pillars, and neither is 100 percent. The Swedish blue-liner was absent for the second half of this slump with back spasms, while the American, who also dealt with injury last year, missed a good portion of November. There are some very young skaters here, like '22 and '23 first-rounders Jiri Kulich and Zach Benson, who you can imagine eventually growing into backstops for this kind of adversity. But particularly now that Jeff Skinner has moved on to Edmonton, it's inconceivable that the Sabres could be a real threat without both their leaders at full strength.
The answer should be easy, then: The Sabres need depth! But it's not so easy, as GM Kevyn Adams kind of tactlessly explained to the media last Friday. "We're not a destination city right now," Adams said at a press conference. "We don't have palm trees, we have taxes in New York and these are things you deal with. I'm in conversations every day, and there's a lot of players that we're on their (no-trade) list. We need to earn the respect and it starts with getting over the hump, getting in the playoffs and competing."
Sabres fans had many reasons to be bothered by these few words from Adams (who's also acting as a shield for owner Terry Pegula). For one, this guy inherited a roster with both Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart on it. For two, there are several "small-market," cold-weather cities that boast enviable franchises. (Sabres fans might be the only people who look toward the city of Winnipeg with jealousy in their eyes.) And for three, if you've been dragged along by this team for over a decade, it's just annoying to have to listen to this guy whine about how hard his job is.
The supporters still have a little sense of humor about it, though. In the immediate aftermath of Adams's quote, inflatable palm trees dotted the arena as fans expressed their displeasure with both Utah's run of goals and the overall direction of the franchise. Management had to be frustrated with that mini-protest of sorts, but I choose to look on the sunnier side: There are still fans who care enough to spend however much an inflatable palm tree costs, on top of the ticket price, because they want to help push the Sabres toward something better. The worst thing will be when nobody gets mad at all.
