The Buffalo Sabres are 4 for 4 on the effort meter this season. There's your glass-half-full item from Friday night.
One would suppose that's a victory in itself after all the no-shows we saw in the first half of the 56-game charade that ran from January to March before Ralph Krueger was finally put out of his misery.
Buffalo failed to start the season with four consecutive wins for the first time since 2008-09, despite having the edge in shots (36-26) and shot attempts (68-40) against Boston.
As for the execution? No surprise, that's a work in progress.
The scoreboard wasn't kind to the Sabres in their first loss of the season. There was too much David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand, too much Charlie Coyle and too much of old friend Linus Ullmark as the Boston Bruins scuttled the Sabres 4-1. That denied Buffalo its first 4-0 start since 2008.
The Sabres were more than willing through most of this one. They just weren't able. And on nights when they're not playing teams like Arizona and Montreal, that's going to be an issue.
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When stars like Patrice Bergeron, Pastrnak and Marchand come to town, the Sabres will struggle to have an answer.
"Their top players cashed in. They played very well for them," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "Credit to them. They were ready for it. They took advantage of our mistakes and that's what good players do. They hold you accountable."
The Sabres outshot the Bruins 36-26 in the game and held a 66-40 advantage in shot attempts. But after winning 54% of the faceoffs in their first three games, they were at just 37% in this one (17-29). They also went 0 for 4 on the power play and gave up their first power-play goal of the season.
Rasmus Dahlin played a team-high 25:04, but had some troubling moments with the puck, especially in the first period. He got schooled behind the net on the game's opening goal by Marchand, who fed Pastrnak in front for the one-timer past Craig Anderson that was all the Bruins would need.
In three games at center for the undefeated Sabres (3-0), Thompson has been among the club’s most impactful forwards.
(An aside: The memo to crack down on cross-checking didn't reach referees Dean Morton and Kevin Pollock prior to this one. Marchand got away with one on Dahlin.)
"A lot of chances they created, we kind of made a bad play and they got the chances," Victor Olofsson said. "It's going to be like that against those teams. It was a big 'learner' for us, for sure."
Dylan Cozens has wondrous talent, but he's 20. He's not there yet. He had six shots on goal and eight attempts in the game. Couldn't dent the net. He actually beat Ullmark five-hole on one first-period play, only to see the puck hit Ullmark's back pad and skitter out, rather than deflect in.
"I've been a goal scorer my whole career. So I don't let that get away from me," said Cozens, still looking for his first of the season. "I want to keep shooting the puck. Eventually, one of them's going to go in.
"It's tough when you beat the goalie and his pad comes and stops it on the goal line, but you've got to just got to keep chipping away."
Watch the rear leg...Jeepers. https://t.co/eAvoxLsjhh
— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) October 22, 2021
The Sabres are trying for their first 4-0 start since 2008 and will have to beat their former starting goalie to get there.
Granato said his team was pressing at times and trying to make too many pretty plays. That manifested itself on the power play, which was 4 for 11 in the first three games, but didn't have nearly the zip with the puck in this one. Too slow to move it around the zone, too tentative to shoot.
Granato said last week a point of emphasis this season was for the team to play from in front, something it was woeful at last season. Welp, the Sabres have given up the first goal in three straight games now. They rallied to beat Arizona and Vancouver and bounced back strong for a while after Boston's opener Friday.
But it's generally not a recipe for success.
New winger Vinnie Hinostroza is a player that's looked good right from the start of training camp, but he needs some reminders to go to the net and shoot the puck. Happened a couple of times Friday. Like the speed, like the nose-to-the-grindstone attitude. Don't like the hesitance to attack.
New defenseman Will Butcher showed the difference on one second-period play. Took a great pass from Tage Thompson, cut through the slot and fired. Beat Ullmark clean. Doink, off the goalpost.
It was that kind of night.
The fans offered some boos, half-hearted at times, on each instance that Taylor Hall touched the puck. Most folks, remember, had no chance to offer such a salute at the end of last season.
They needed some payback for Hall's two-goal disaster before he was traded to Boston. And maybe for tripping over the blue line on that infamous breakaway in Long Island.
After taking a terrible offensive zone tripping penalty with 3:58 left to give the Sabres a final gasp, Hall got the last laugh with an empty-net goal that sealed the issue.
"All around, we're pretty happy with how we played," Cozens said. "But there's a lot we can learn from this game, and not allow ourselves to get frustrated. They're a frustrating team to play against and we've just got to stay composed."
