Mike Harrington: Back and forth this Sabres season goes. Where it stops, nobody knows
The Sabres have played 24 games and have 24 points. They have a trio of three-game winning streaks – after not getting a single one of those last season until late February – and they have a trio of three-game losing or winless streaks. That's 18 of the 24 games tied up in a run or a rut.
Idon’t know if the Buffalo Sabres have a pingpong table in the restricted areas of their KeyBank Center compound since we don’t get to see that space, but it sure would be appropriate if they do.
That’s how this season feels. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. Over and over and over.
The Sabres have played 24 games and have 24 points. They have a trio of three-game winning streaks – after not getting a single one of those last season until late February – and they have a trio of three-game losing or winless streaks. That’s 18 of the 24 games tied up in a run or a rut.
He wasn’t admitting it much Monday, but that has to be grating on head coach Lindy Ruff’s nerves.
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff looks on against the Panthers on Oct. 12. Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
The Sabres are 0-3 when trying for a fourth straight win, something they haven’t done since taking five in a row from Jan. 19-26, 2023. That’s nearly two years ago. But they’re 2-0 when on a three-game slide, another scenario they face Tuesday night in KeyBank Center against Colorado.
They swept three games in California for the first time since the Anaheim Ducks entered the NHL in 1993 – and promptly gave it all back last week after tough-luck losses to Minnesota and Vancouver (in overtime), and yet another clunker on Long Island on Saturday against the New York Islanders.
So it meant they quickly went from the heady third-place-in-the-Atlantic feeling to starting this week fifth in both the division and the wild-card standings and being three points out in each. Aside here: Philadelphia is 7-2-1 in its last 10 and Columbus is 6-3-1, and both of them are ahead of Buffalo, with the Flyers owning the last playoff spot. From this view, not feeling either of those teams for the long haul.
Whereas Ruff might have been breathing fire and brimstone to the media 15 years ago, he was pretty diplomatic after practice Monday. He’s right that the Minnesota and Vancouver games were mostly solid showings, but they’re also under the heading of moral victories, which can’t be the Sabres’ business anymore.
Practice was tough Monday, with an emphasis on small-area games and finishing down low in the wake of the team’s offensive struggles last week.
“We just feel we haven’t finished that next play a lot of times, and we sometimes have missed making that play,” Ruff said. “So just trying to breed a little bit more confidence into our guys. And the big thing is, I felt like a little frustration crept in the latter half of the Islanders game. I thought our first period, we had our opportunities, didn’t score. Started the second period, had some good opportunities, didn’t score. Then got frustrated after that and started to play a game that we’re not familiar with.”
Don’t mistake what might be perceived as softer chats with the media as Ruff going soft. You still hear chatter that the team’s video sessions are tough, and practice Monday was no easy skate.
And for the losing teams in the small-ice drills? Penalty pushups were back in vogue like we saw during training camp.
Getting shut out twice in three games has heightened the call for general manager Kevyn Adams to get another goal scorer in here. The GM was in his usual spot watching practice at the top of Section 105 on Monday. His cellphone was pressed to his ear virtually the entire 45-minute workout and rest assured he wasn’t ordering takeout or an eggnog latte.
But no one is moving right now and we’ll see if the Rangers are really serious about dealing Chris Kreider. The Sabres probably shouldn’t have any interest in a 33-year-old whose skills are quickly eroding and would cost them big time, presuming he’d even agree to come here.
It would be easier, of course, for Tage Thompson and JJ Peterka to simply start scoring again and for Jack Quinn to start scoring at all. Thompson didn’t connect in any of the three games after his return to the lineup and Peterka has just one goal in his last 11 games, and none in his last eight.
“We know that we’re going to need them if we’re going to be a good offensive team,” Ruff said. “Your best players have to find their mark.”
“When I’m at my best, I’m moving my feet, I’m shooting first, and I’m going to the net,” Thompson said. “I think when I’m doing those things, the rest of my game just kind of falls into place. And I think for us as a team, it’s similar. I think when we’re moving our feet, that’s kind of the team identity. We’re relentless on pucks. When we’re good on the forecheck, that’s where we get our offense.”
None of that happened for most of the last 30 minutes against the Islanders, and you can add that game to other road clunkers we’ve seen in Detroit, Columbus and Philadelphia.
The Sabres have scored just three goals at 5-on-5 over the last three games. The power play is 0-for-11 in the last four after scoring in seven straight games, the most by an NHL team this season. It’s high time we don’t see any more no-shows like we saw on Long Island, where the Sabres have somehow won just twice in their last 15 trips.
“Definitely not one of our best efforts,” said defenseman Bowen Byram, who meets his former team for the first time Tuesday night. “You’ve got to learn from it. But at the end of the day, you can’t keep learning every year. Eventually, you’ve got to start taking steps. That’s where we’re at right now.”
This week is Colorado, Winnipeg and Utah. All at home. Let’s see if the season turns around. Again.
