Well, that was a bit of a mess, wasn’t it?
After getting a nice overtime win in Anaheim (even though they blew a 3-goal lead) and then jumping out to a two-goal lead in L.A., the Buffalo Sabres laid a series of eggs. The team lost the two-goal lead against the Kings and lost in regulation. They then got run out of the building in San Jose on Tuesday and again in Seattle on Thursday.
When the team headed to the West Coast late last month, there was optimism in the air because their high energy, maximum effort style of play was giving them an identity. It was helping them generate goals and it was keeping them defensively responsible. After watching the past two games against the Sharks and the Kraken, they look more like the team everyone predicted they would be.
The first five games of the season were truly enjoyable. The guys were working hard, completing passes and winning puck battles. This week in San Jose and Seattle, they were sloppy, they were slow, and it was a chore to watch. They were outshot badly in both games, and they gave up a ton of odd-man rushes. Both goaltenders were under siege for long stretches of time and did the best they could. Craig Anderson on Tuesday and Dustin Tokarski on Thursday both held up admirably while they waited for their teammates to find their game, but it never came, and eventually, the dam broke.
The team returns home with a record of 5-4-1 which is good for 4th in the Northeast division. After 10 games I think we all thought 11 points would be an excellent start. It may not feel like it because of what transpired on Tuesday and Thursday, but 11 points in 10 games paces out to roughly 90 points, so the sky isn’t falling just yet.
Do we think the team can continue that pace and get 11 points in the next 10 games and 11 more in the 10 games after that?
In past years the answer to that question was a resounding “no.” But maybe this year with Don Granato at the controls we might be in for something different. We all knew this was going to be a tough job for him and now that he is faced with his first real adversity of the season, it will be fascinating to see if he can find a way to help the guys bounce back and start tilting the ice back in their favor again.
I am reminded of the back-to-back come-from-behind wins against the Islanders last season after the team looked listless and lazy for four games in a row before that. If he could find the right buttons to push to achieve that, then maybe there is hope that he can weave some more magic and get back to entertaining, hard-working hockey.
Here’s hoping the performance in the past couple of games was an aberration and not a sign of things to come.