Say this for coach Don Granato. He's forging ahead with the big picture in mind. The macro view of the Buffalo Sabres' situation is grim in the wake of Tuesday's 2-0 loss to Anaheim, but there were nonetheless some interesting takeaways.
The day started with the Sabres on an historically inept defensive display with virtually no semblance of goaltending. The Blue and Gold entered Tuesday's game having given up 20 goals in its last three games, a first for the club since 1988. Buffalo had not gone 0-3 in any stretch while giving up so many goals since 1983.
Luukkonen stopped 21 of 23 shots, but his teammates could not break through offensively in his season debut for the Buffalo Sabres as they fell to the Anaheim Ducks 2-0.
There's been all manner of issues. Lack of saves in net, bad defensive coverages, terrible turnovers on the power play. It's been gruesome to watch, at times.
So it was a relief to see Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in net Tuesday and only have to face 23 shots. He didn't have a ton of work, but he made several good saves. On yet another grievous turnover by Rasmus Dahlin behind the net in the first period, Luukkonen bailed out his bedraggled defender with a save in tight on Trevor Zegras.
People are also reading…
Luukkonen only got beat on the highlight-reel-forever "Michigan" pass from Zegras to Sonny Milano in the second period and a tip-in by Connor Carrick with 2:08 left. He stopped 21 shots and should get at least another start here this weekend against either the New York Rangers or Washington Capitals.
The Sabres' goaltending situation is in tatters through a combination of injury, illness and ineffective play. Luukkonen is 6-6, 3.42/.888 during what has been a rollercoaster season for him in Rochester.
The offense didn't score but, especially over the last 25 minutes, there was no shortage of effort. The Sabres had 66 shot attempts in the game, but only 25 hit the net. Buffalo misfired on 17 attempts and had a monstrous 24 blocked by the Ducks in support of Anthony Stolarz's shutout.
The Sabres know where their issues are and how they're going to fix them. Alex Tuch's return is just a few weeks away. Jack Quinn, J.J. Peterka and Peyton Krebs will be here next year and probably get a taste of things this season. Owen Power and Mattias Samuelsson will be instant upgrades on defense whenever they arrive, too.
This is one wacky season. Did you have any idea the Sabres entered the game on pace to average more goals this year than any season since 2010-11? That they were scoring more than any season when their lineup included Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart?
That's all part of the plan, too. Granato was musing with reporters Tuesday morning and made it clear his plan isn't changing in the face of the defensive disasters of the last month.
"We're pushing to make these players better, or pushing to not make them conservative, pushing to not make them play to not make a mistake," Granato said. "I said when I took the job, if we try to play to win 2-1 and 1-0, we're going to be a very boring team and develop nobody. And I don't want guys that are conservative. I want guys that ride the edge."
"Dahlin has to regain some modicum of aggressiveness," writes Mike Harrington.
The Sabres are prone to braincramps defensively, and for all the wows and holy cows the Ducks' first goal brought Tuesday, the reality of the Zegras-Milano play was that Colin Miller was a spectator to Zegras' wizardry and, worse than that, Dahlin, Zemgus Girgensons and Rasmus Asplund were watching Milano get on the inside of them.
You should have heard the murmurs from the fans in the Zamboni end of the arena who had a clear view. They were floored. The rest of the building joined in when the replays started rolling on the Jumbotron. Naturally, Granato said afterward he wasn't agog with the play because, after all, the puck ended up in his net. But he was more disturbed by the ease with which the Ducks got set up in the Buffalo zone.
The strange thing was that the Sabres ended up getting shut out in a game when they played better defensively than they have in weeks. Granato almost foreshadowed what might happen a few hours earlier.
"We need players that have potential, that want to go after their potential. And they're going to make mistakes," Granato said in the morning. "... I don't want conservative guys, and I think situations like giving up a lot of goals, the reflex is to get really conservative. And I'm just not going to do it. We're going to pay attention and try to improve defensively, and we will, but we can't lose that confidence we talked about for scoring goals."
But is that what happened in this game? Granato seemed as discouraged as we've seen at any point this year. The Ducks were on a back-to-back and they didn't do a whole lot. They were ripe in this one and the Sabres didn't take advantage. Buffalo had only 10 shots on goal in the first two periods while giving up only 15.
Did his club sacrifice offense for defense? Granato wasn't going to commit to that theory, but it sure seemed like it felt like it had credence.
"I don't want to say that. I just want to think about it," he said. "You want to reflect after the game, but that runs through your mind. It's tough to stand here and say that. It's like you're making an excuse for not doing. It just doesn't feel good. We didn't play with the energy and passion and I want that to just be the focus."
The Sabres are 25 games in. They're 8-14-3. They're 1-8-1 in the last 10 and now in the bottom five of the NHL's overall standings, where the whole world picked them to be. Granato's work-in-progress season trudges on.
