It is starting to get harder and harder to come up with different ways to say this, but the Buffalo Sabres have lost a hockey game once again. This loss came in the form of a 3-0 shutout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Sabres were unable to get anything going all night in a very boring game to watch as a Buffalo fan.
There was no scoring until the 16:37 mark of the second period. Jake Guentzel scored on a power play opportunity for the Penguins. The Sabres matched the shots on goal total of the Penguins in the second period with 12 apiece, but they could not capitalize on any of their shots. Buffalo found themselves in the familiar spot of trailing going into the third period once again.
In the third period, the Sabres were outshot by Pittsburgh by a ratio of two to one. While trying to attempt a comeback, Buffalo could only muster six shots on goal in the third period. The Penguins added two empty-net goals late in the third period to finish off the Sabres and complete their 3-0 win.
This was a dreadful performance from the Sabres offense. But you cannot blame all of this on the players. The game plan was awful, and there seemed to be zero coaching adjustments throughout the entire game where they were obviously struggling throughout.
The only bright spot for the Sabres was the performance from goaltender Carter Hutton. Hutton had his best performance of the year wasted by Buffalo’s inability to put up any offense to help him out. Hutton made 31 saves on 32 shots faced. This amounts to a save percentage of .969, which is a significant amount better than his season average.
Buffalo has now extended their losing streak to ten games. But even with this double-digit losing streak, Ralph Krueger still has a job, and nothing is changing. It would be crazy to think anything will be any different unless the organization actually makes some changes.