Sabres seek answers to sudden slump as first playoff series since 2011 now looms

Sabres seek answers as first playoff series since 2011 looms

The Sabres' 2-3-2 record over the last seven games is easily their weakest stretch of hockey since early December, when Kevyn Adams was still general manager. Two straight losses in regulation is a first for this club under GM Jarmo Kekalainen.

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Talk about swings of emotion. The Buffalo Sabres went from jubilation to confusion in a span of a few hours here Saturday.

The euphoria of qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2011 didn't last long. Giving up three goals in the first six minutes of a game will kind of kill the moment.

The 6-2 loss to the Washington Capitals in Capital One Arena put several issues in gruesome focus for the Sabres.

Their 2-3-2 record over the last seven games is easily their weakest stretch of hockey since early December, when Kevyn Adams was still general manager. Two straight losses in regulation is a first for this club under general manager Jarmo Kekalainen.


Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin, right, fights for a rebound off Sabres goaltender Colten Ellis during Saturday's game in Washington.
(AP Photo/John McDonnell)

And an eight-game winning streak by the Montreal Canadiens, who posted a 4-3 shootout victory Saturday in New Jersey after blowing a 3-0 lead, has dropped the Sabres to third in the Atlantic Division. It pushes the possibility Buffalo could open the playoffs on the road at either Montreal or Tampa Bay.

The players were at the end of their game-day naps or preparing to go to the arena when they got word their playoff quest was completed by a 4-1 Detroit loss to the New York Rangers.

And get this: Rookie Gabe Perreault scored a hat trick for New York. He's no relation to Sabres icon Gilbert Perreault, but that's undoubtedly some weird karma.

"For the love of Perreaults for sure," coach Lindy Ruff said with a smile before the game. "I don't know if there's a Hockey God, but the fact that we went out this year and played the way we did and climbed the ladder that far, I think we had a lot of Gods that were taking care of us."

"It's obviously unbelievable," said Captain Rasmus Dahlin. "I'm happy for the city. I'm happy for all the guys that have been grinding here for years, the equipment managers, trainers, and my teammates. Mostly, the people in the city. Wow, it's going to be special, that's for sure."

Ruff said his team was rewarded for its consistent play over four months in which the Sabres posted a remarkable 33-6-2 record in a span of 41 games that represents half a season.

"We got rewarded for how hard we've played," Ruff said. "First and foremost, I'm so happy for Terry and Kim (Pegula), the whole Pegula family, and our fans. All the people who work in the KeyBank Center. I'm stoked."

Here's betting Ruff wasn't stoked by what he saw Saturday. The Caps scored two goals in 20 seconds inside the first four minutes, with Alex Ovechkin assisting on both. They knocked Alex Lyon from the crease at 5:52 when Connor McMichael banged home a loose puck he snared off the end boards.

"You can't defend as poorly as we did those first couple of goals," Ruff said. "We left two guys wide open, coverage wasn't good, and it ends up in the back of your net."

"Terrible effort," Dahlin said. "It was not even close to being good today. We've got to look ourselves in the mirror. No one is playing their best hockey right now."

There are multiple problems defensively. The Sabres' breakouts have not been good lately, with a Bowen Byram turnover leading to Washington's first goal. Coverage issues are problematic as well, with Logan Stanley caught in no-man's land covering no one on the second Washington goal 20 seconds later.

"I gotta be better. I think it starts with me, and I think our 'D' zone (coverage) was putrid all night," added center Tage Thompson. You can't just hand them three goals at the beginning of the game and expect you're gonna win. We put ourselves in a really tough spot early on and gave them a ton of life."

Lyon, who has a 6.24 goals-against average and .772 save percentage over his last three starts, had no chance in this one on any of the goals. It was a clear mercy pulling to try to wake up the guys in front of him.

"He wasn't out there covering those guys that were wide open," Ruff said. "He was trying to."

"When we were successful, it was a grind," Dahlin said. "It was unbelievable how hard we worked, how many shots we were blocking, and how much we sacrificed our bodies. We've got to get back to that."

The Sabres had a 39-28 advantage in shots on goal, but it didn't mean much on a night when their power play went 0 for 5.

"Power play has got to be better. Our whole game had to be better," Thompson said. "The power play there was an opportunity to maybe claw our way back into the game. I just thought that we were frustrated. When you get frustrated, you don't make the right plays, and you start to force things, and that's what it felt like to me out there."

The Sabres have a massive game on the docket Monday in KeyBank Center against Tampa Bay. They will undoubtedly receive a raucous reaction for finally ending their playoff drought, but uneasiness will quickly permeate the building if they continue their uneven play.

"I'm really proud of the group. It's been a long time coming," said winger Alex Tuch. "It's my fifth year here. I was a pretty happy guy this afternoon. We don't want to dwell too hard on this game, but we've got to fix things, watch our goals against. ... We've got to ramp it up because now we're in the playoffs officially. Pretty good feeling, but we've just got to come ready to play."

 

[HipKat]

The Athletic: Inside Sabres’ anticlimactic clinch day: A drought ended, followed by alarming loss​

Inside Sabres’ anticlimactic clinch day: A drought ended, followed by alarming loss

After clinching a playoff berth while still in street clothes thanks to another team, the Sabres laid another egg against the Capitals.

www.nytimes.com

Early on Saturday, the Sabres ended a 14-year postseason drought. Geoff Burke / Imagn Images

Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff wasn’t watching the Detroit Red Wings’ game against the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon. Of course, he knew a regulation loss from the Red Wings would clinch a playoff spot for the Sabres, so he was checking the score periodically. But the Sabres had a game Saturday night, so he had more pressing matters. He was breaking down video and then, because it was an 80-degree day in D.C., he decided to take a walk.

“Business as usual,” Ruff said with a smile while speaking just outside the visitor’s locker room at Capital One Arena.

Ruff only found out the Sabres had clinched when someone he declined to name sent him a simple text.

“X.”

That “X” is now sitting next to the Sabres on the league’s standings page to represent the fact that they have clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs and ended a 14-year postseason drought that was the longest in NHL history. When Ruff came back for a second stint as the Sabres’ coach before the 2024-25 season, he did so because he wanted to be part of bringing playoff hockey back to Buffalo. The 2024-25 season was one of the toughest of Ruff’s career, with the team struggling to get to 79 points. This season, the Sabres were in last place in the Eastern Conference in mid-December before putting together the best 40-game stretch the NHL has seen since the 1995-96 season.

“The guys have worked so hard to get to this point,” Ruff said. “I mentioned yesterday, four months, every month has been pretty darn consistent. We play a good brand of hockey and we got rewarded for how hard we played. First and foremost, I’m so happy for Terry and Kim and the whole Pegula family, our fans, all the people who work in the building. I’m stoked.”

But then the game started.

A healthy crowd of Sabres fans in D.C. got an audible, “Let’s go, Buffalo!” chant started early in the game, but the buzz of the playoff clinch wore off quickly. In the first six minutes of the game, the Sabres were down 3-0 due to some lackadaisical coverage in the defensive zone.

First, Jakob Chychrun was wide open to blast home a rebound. Then Dylan Strome was left uncovered in front of the net for a tap-in. And then Connor McMichael was by himself at the side of the net to tap in a puck that banked off the end wall. With 14:08 left in the first period, Ruff pulled Alex Lyon and called a timeout to try to snap his team out of it.

The Sabres did claw back, scoring a pair of goals to make it 3-2 at the end of the first period. But the Capitals widened the gap again in the second period. After Josh Doan and Ryan McLeod failed to connect on a two-on-one, Aliaksei Protas went the other way and scored on the rush. In the third, the Sabres allowed two more goals, including a short-handed goal from Tom Wilson. The game ended 6-2 and marked Buffalo’s second straight loss and fifth loss in the last seven games.

The postgame locker room could have been a celebration scene. When the Sabres clinched a playoff spot this afternoon, some of them were probably still waking up from their pregame naps. A win would have allowed them to soak in the accomplishment and enjoy it for a night.

Instead, the postgame scene around Buffalo’s locker room was a quiet, frustrated one. Rasmus Dahlin said it was difficult to answer questions about clinching, but he made a point to say how happy he was for the people of Buffalo. But he wasn’t in much of a mood for reflecting on what the Sabres have done, given the way the last few games have gone. With a chance to clinch against the Senators on Thursday night, the Sabres lost 4-1. Now, after clinching while still in street clothes, the Sabres laid another egg.

“(Clinching) is not something you look over by any means,” Sabres forward Tage Thompson said. “It’s obviously a huge accomplishment. That’s a goal we’ve had for a long time and especially where we were at the beginning of the season, what we’ve done to get ourselves into this spot is great. But also at the end of the day, that’s not the end goal. You can’t be comfortable with that and happy with that. It’s not good enough to just get in. There’s other teams that are doing that every year. It’s not that special. We want to do something special. And if we’re playing like that, we’re not going to.”

The Sabres haven’t been the same team in the last seven games, going 2-3-2 during that stretch. After allowing one goal in three games prior to this stretch, the Sabres have now allowed 30 goals in the last seven games. On Saturday, the defensive shortcomings weren’t isolated to one or two players. Thompson, Bowen Byram, Jack Quinn, Josh Doan, Ryan McLeod and Zach Metsa were all on the ice for three goals against in this game. Logan Stanley, Jason Zucker, Owen Power and Zach Benson were out there for two goals against each.

Suddenly, one of the strengths of the Sabres’ game has turned into a weakness. And after four months of getting the best goaltending in the NHL, the Sabres haven’t been bailed out by their goalies quite as often.

“You can’t defend as poorly as we did those first couple of goals,” Ruff said. “We left two guys wide open. Coverage wasn’t good and it ends up in the back of the net. We’ve taken a lot of pride. Our defensive play has been a big reason why we got to where we got. We can’t take that for granted.”

Sabres fans have spent many years wondering and imagining what it would be like when the playoff drought finally ended. It could have happened with a win at home and turned into an arena-wide celebration, but that wasn’t in the cards. It could have happened on Thursday night with a win in a rival building. Dan Dunleavy could have had the perfect call to meet the moment and give fans watching a lifetime memory.

What actually happened felt anticlimactic by comparison. The Sabres clinched, but did so thanks to another team. And then fans only got to revel in it for a few hours before the Capitals put a damper on things.

“A lot of the noise right now with us making playoffs and clinching is maybe, I don’t want to say getting to our heads a little bit, but we definitely aren’t as intense as we need to be right now,” Thompson said.

If it’s intensity the Sabres need more of, they shouldn’t have any trouble finding it on Monday. They’ll return home to get in front of the home crowd for the first time since ending the drought. And they’ll be playing the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team they beat 8-7 in an epic, fight-filled slugfest a few weeks ago.

“They’re a hell of a team,” Alex Tuch said. “If we play like that tonight, they’re going to run us over and run us out of our own building. Hopefully, getting back to the KeyBank Center gives us a little bit of a jolt that we need. We’re going to come out with a lot of passion and a lot of energy and try to take it to them.”

The Sabres have five games left in the regular season before the playoffs begin. That’s time for them to shake this late-season funk. But the consequences of the last two weeks are already setting in. The Lightning have a two-point lead on the Sabres in the division with a game in hand. And the Canadiens are now tied with the Sabres at 100 points and also have a game in hand. After holding first place in the Atlantic for a few weeks, the Sabres are now in third, which would mean losing home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Back when the Sabres were struggling early in the season, making it to the playoffs would have been cause for celebration on its own. Along the way, though, the Sabres became a team capable of doing more than just getting in. The Eastern Conference looks wide open, and the Sabres have five games to get themselves ready to take advantage of that.

“Once you reach that goal, the standard has changed for us,” Thompson said. “That’s no longer the standard, just making it. We’ve got to move on from this trip and get our game back.”