Buffalo Sabres: Latest loss defines state of the franchise

The Buffalo Sabres enjoyed a two-game winning streak heading into Sunday’s matinee with the Los Angeles Kings.

By the end of the afternoon, the Buffalo Sabres and Sabre fans across the globe realized one thing: This team is as far away from adequate playing playoff hockey as they can get. Given the Sabres struggles all season, this may seem like the Captain Obvious statement. But the Kings, with their grit and grind style, proved it in the 3-0 affair.

Los Angeles kept it simple: Limit the Sabres scoring opportunities, stay physical, and sit on a one goal lead. They eventually padded their lead with two empty net goals in the game’s waning moments.

Buffalo Sabres fail the test in a ‘playoff hockey’ atmosphere

It wasn’t until the 16:55 mark in the second period did Kings center Andreas Athanasiou sneak one by goaltender Dustin Tokarski on a two-on-one opportunity. While the loss handed the Sabres their sixth shutout and negated the Sabres from logging their first three-game winning streak since October, the one positive is that they know where they are.

Even if they have nowhere to look but up. And that, head coach Don Granato believes, will benefit the Sabres long-term. Here’s how Granato put it:

"“That’s why I say the video is good because you can get to that and say, ‘OK, we can learn from this, this is much simpler than maybe we perceived and felt.’”"

It’s easy to fall in love with his optimism. Even when the Sabres clearly failed the test against a team that provided the grind it out, playoff-style atmosphere.

But to improve, every individual who took the ice Sunday needs to hold themselves accountable. They need to learn from their mistakes and start fixing the issues that led to the shutout as soon as they take the ice again.

And they will get that opportunity against the Florida Panthers, a team that carries a different look from what the Sabres faced against the Kings and the Minnesota Wild. And like the Kings, the Panthers further give the Sabres an opportunity to experience playoff-style hockey.

The Sabres and Panthers face-off at 7:00pm at the KeyBank Center as the homestand continues. It spells as a potential trap game for the Panthers, who own a 12-7-5 record on the road this season. Tune in to find out if the Sabres can take advantage.