DALLAS – There were no exaggerated expressions of frustration like those we saw following many of the Buffalo Sabres’ losses during this decade-long playoff drought.
No one slammed the door of the visitors’ bench at American Airlines Center or purposefully broke their stick, even though no one would blame anyone involved for growing tired of a process that even coach Don Granato admitted can be agonizing.
But in a development season for a franchise that’s 29 games away from owning the longest run of postseason futility in league history, the Sabres have remained poised after losses such as the 4-2 defeat at the hands of the Dallas Stars on Sunday.
“I like the direction our team’s heading,” said always mild-mannered Sabres center Tage Thompson, who scored his team-leading 22nd goal of the season in Buffalo’s sixth-consecutive loss.
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The performance was another display of the mettle in the Buffalo dressing room and a snapshot of what the club can do against the league’s elite, Lance Lysowski writes.
The Sabres, now second-to-last in the Eastern Conference with a 16-30-8 record, played another Stanley Cup contender tough Friday night in St. Louis, tying the score in the third period and using their speed to frustrate a stronger, more experienced opponent.
In Dallas, the Sabres outshot the Stars (29-20-3), 40-31, and had more scoring opportunities over the final 40 minutes. Thompson showed again why he's the club's most valuable player, and Cody Eakin capped an impressive showing by the fourth line with his fourth goal of the season. Dallas had only 13 shots over the final two periods and didn’t generate much off the rush.
The Sabres were inconsistent again, though. They didn’t have a shot on goal until 9:53 into the first period, as they started breakouts too slow and failed to support each other on the forecheck.
“That’s a real, real good hockey team and they came out obviously hard, as good teams do,” Granato said of the Central Division’s third-place Stars. “It took us a while to figure out how we needed to play. … We couldn’t get to the game plan in the first.”
When the Stars were quick to start their counterattack, the Sabres were too spread out when retreating to their defensive zone, which gave Dallas too much space to get shots on goalie Craig Anderson, who finished with 27 saves.
A lost puck battle behind the net led to the first of two goals for Michael Raffl, who tipped Radek Faksa’s shot for a 1-0 Dallas lead 12:35 into the opening period.
Entering the game, the Stars had allowed only 23 goals over their previous 10 games, and they owned a 15-5-3 record in one-goal games. They’ve now won seven of their last nine, backed by goalie Jake Oettinger, whose rebound control was important to Dallas holding on in the third period Sunday.
“The first period, we’ve got to come out better than that and we were on our heels there,” said Thompson. “We can’t be chasing games.”
Don Granato isn't sheltering his young defensemen from tough assignments. Samuelsson should see plenty of Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn Sunday.
For as poorly as the Sabres started the game, the deficit was only one through 20 minutes. And though they were able to find more space offensively in the second period, Dallas took advantage of another mistake. The Stars made it 2-0 with 13:26 left in the second period when Joe Pavelski fended off Mattias Samuelsson along the right-wing boards and found a wide-open Roope Hintz in the slot.
The Sabres’ top line responded with Thompson retrieving the puck in the neutral zone, skating down the right wing and beating Oettinger from the faceoff dot to cut the deficit to one.
Less than two minutes later, though, Mark Pysyk turned the puck over behind Buffalo’s net and multiple Sabres were unable to prevent Raffl from jamming a rebound past Anderson for a 3-1 lead.
There was space to make plays at times, but the Sabres made too many mistakes. Peyton Krebs missed the net on a 2-on-1 and Alex Tuch forced a pass to Jeff Skinner on a similar play in the third period that was broken up.
The Sabres have rarely played well in consecutive games this season – they’ve mounted a win streak on only four occasions – and there’s not one reason for the inconsistency across the past four months. There have been goaltending issues, slow starts, poor puck management, shortcomings on special teams, injuries, a Covid-19 breakout and a lack of secondary scoring.
This time, though, the Sabres allowed two goals on tip-ins – capped by Denis Gurianov’s in the third for a 4-1 lead – and small details add up against playoff-quality opponents.
Much of Buffalo's young core – most notably Thompson – has improved with experience and much can be gained from a solid final 40 minutes against an opponent like Dallas, which was in the Stanley Cup Final less than two years ago. But avoiding frustration is part of the challenge, as the upcoming schedule includes Toronto, Minnesota, Los Angeles, Florida and Vegas.
“It’s an absolute challenge to fight off frustration, but we know as an organization, we do feel that takes organizations out of it when you start overreacting to loss or losses,” said Granato. “We just have to keep plowing ahead and keep pushing each guy to be better, and we will continue to do that. We’re as frustrated as anybody and I can’t tell you I’m not frustrated. I can’t act frustrated. Big difference. You’re allowed to be frustrated, but you can’t act frustrated because you start making wrong decisions then.
“Decisions with really a short-term focus and I know it’s hard. It’s hard on our side, obviously, but we just can’t have a short-term focus when you’re faced with the adversity that we are right now.”
Here are more observations from the game:
1. Giving a push
For the second time in 10 days, Granato expressed displeasure with the play of his top line: Thompson, Tuch and Jeff Skinner. Thompson had eight shots on goal for a second straight game and he’s up to 24 points in his last 23 games, but the trio started slow and failed to make enough of an impact on the forecheck early.
Conversely, the fourth line of Eakin, John Hayden and Anders Bjork played their best game of the season, earning 63.16% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts when they were on the ice together.
2. Change ahead?
This was another difficult game for Casey Mittelstadt, who still doesn’t appear to be playing at 100%. Although Mittelstadt is healthy enough to play, he could benefit from skating on the wing with Krebs at center.
3. Man down
Defenseman Henri Jokiharju missed a second consecutive game with a lower-body injury, but there’s hope he can return to the lineup this week. Robert Hagg played well with Jokiharju out, which can only help Hagg’s trade value. Forward Mark Jankowski was a healthy scratch.
4. Next
The Sabres will travel to Toronto for their first road game against the Maple Leafs since Dec. 17, 2019. Puck drop is Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
