Buffalo Sabres right winger Kyle Okposo (21) emerges from a crowd with the puck during the first period.
New York Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau (44) slips the puck past Buffalo Sabres goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) for the Islanders second goal during the first period at KeyBank Center, Monday, Feb. 15, 2021.
The point of this column was supposed to be the whole fresh-start theory for the Buffalo Sabres. The first 10 games were one season, then came the two-week pause due to the Covid-19 situation, and what's essentially a new season finally opened Monday night.
Next thought.
Even if there were a few different guys in the lineup, it sure seemed like a lot of the same.
The Sabres did some decent things during their 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders. Victor Olofsson scored a lovely power-play goal and there was plenty of time in the offensive zone in the first 40 minutes.
But the Sabres still do just enough to stub their toes, and it makes a difference on a nightly basis because there are too many good teams in the East Division.
The Buffalo Sabres’ makeshift defense corps couldn't overcome its miscues during a 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders at KeyBank Center.
They don't score at 5-on-5, they constantly play from behind (giving up the first goal for the eighth time in 11 games), they get confused on defensive coverages too much and they just don't get enough saves. It also sure seemed, after two weeks off, that they had nothing left in their tanks for the third period.
They had no shots on goal in the final 20 minutes. None. Zip. Nada. It's just the fourth time they've done that in their history – but the first time in Buffalo – and the first time any Islanders opponent has ever been blanked.
You can line up your excuses and none of them can justify that.
"That's not good enough," Olofsson said. "I feel like we've got to just throw pucks at the net. It went in and out of their end really quickly and we didn't manage to get any offense going. Zero shots is, yeah, it's awful."
"It's a bad period. It's not a good period of hockey, not the way we want to play," Kyle Okposo added. "They're a group that knows how to play well defensively and they just sucked us right in in the third."
The Buffalo Sabres moved closer to full strength Monday morning with three more players removed from the National Hockey League's Covid protocol list.
Olofsson leads the team with five goals, but four are on the power play and that's been his M.O. during his two seasons. He had a point-blank chance to score the game's first goal late in the first period, but was robbed by a glove save from Semyon Varlamov, who moved to his left to stab the shot and knock the puck just enough so it hit the goal post.
At the end other end, Linus Ullmark couldn't stop Anders Lee's tip-in of a Josh Bailey pass, and then completely flubbed Jean-Gabriel Pageau's snapshot from the right circle with 1:39 left in the first. A 2-0 hole after 20 minutes was too much to overcome.
Rasmus Dahlin played things decently by keeping Pageau to the outside, and it was a super shot just under the crossbar. Still, Ullmark was down far too early and flat-out missed the puck with his glove. He's 6-foot-4. He doesn't need to make himself 5-foot-6.
Can't have a mistake like that given the way the Sabres' top offensive players continue to struggle, especially at 5-on-5. Jack Eichel has only two goals and Taylor Hall has just one, but at least they've combined for 20 points. Okposo has no points in six games and Jeff Skinner has one measly assist in 11 games for his $9 million. Memo to social media: Skinner played a whole game with Eichel and still didn't do much. Of course, that's probably Ralph Krueger's fault, too.
"We've just got to make a play. That's what it comes down to," Eichel said. "... It just seems like we're sloppy and don't make a whole lot of plays. It's tough to score goals in this league when you don't do that."
Awareness has moved to the forefront as Sabres players, coaches and staff endure daily Covid-19 tests, quarantines, time away from loved ones and the disruption of treasured routines.
Eichel cited poor passing and puck movement and little success at transition as the Sabres' chief problems. Pretty sharp analysis.
The game was a downer for a day that began with good feelings. Krueger was on the ice for the morning skate and was full-go. So were Tobias Rieder, Jake McCabe and Brandon Montour, all of whom reported Covid-19 symptoms, but thankfully also said they were feeling better.
"We'd like to take up with some of the very good things that were happening in the first 10 games," Krueger said, in words that did not come to fruition. "Everybody knows we weren't playing a complete game yet. But we had excellent elements of our game that we'd like to reconnect to where we were on those, but use the freshness to bring the 5-on-5 game to a higher level. And it certainly counts as a continuation of the season, but with a certain new angle and a new perspective, which I think the team has really used well."
The Sabres need McCabe and Montour back in the lineup and they absolutely need Rasmus Ristolainen, who has been on the list since Feb. 2 and shows no sign of coming back in what might be the ominous item from this outbreak. The pairing of Henri Jokiharju and Matt Irwin was badly overmatched in this one.
"Getting out on the ice for a few minutes just gives you so much energy back. You know why you're here. You love the group you're working with and the potential of the group and the individuals," Krueger said.
Playing the Islanders six times in a 12-game stretch doesn't look like a great recipe for success. The Isles improved to 4-0-3 in their last seven with Monday's win – a far cry from the five-game winless skid they were on when the Sabres were supposed to meet them on Long Island two weeks ago.
The Sabres are last in the East Division in points, but you knew that would be the case when every team has played three or four more games than them due to their pause. For now, you need to study points percentage to see some hope, but even that is tough. Monday's loss dropped Buffalo to 4-5-2, a .455 clip that will have them out of any playoff shot long before St. Patrick's Day.
February 16, 2021 at 10:38AM
https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/mike-harrington-no-fresh-start-and-more-of-the-same-for-sabres/article_3227bcc0-6fe0-11eb-9291-9ff54930f6bc.html
Mike Harrington: No fresh start and more of the same for Sabres - Buffalo News
https://news.google.com/search?q=fresh&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
No comments:
Post a Comment