LAS VEGAS – It's R&R time. Maybe a beach should come into play. Or a drink with an umbrella in it. Or a little extra time spent here, complete with nice dinners and visits to some blackjack tables.
What do the Buffalo Sabres need to embark upon during their time off for the All-Star break and bye week? Alex Tuch suggested a total disconnect from hockey would be a good idea for a few days. Still, there is some soul searching that absolutely needs to be done.
The Sabres hit the break late Tuesday night after going bust in a 5-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. It left them with a record of 14-24-7 off a 1-2 road trip. The jaunt was crazy thanks to injuries and Covid drama, but ultimately went as you figured with a win at Arizona and losses at Colorado and Vegas.
The Golden Knights overwhelmed the Sabres early, scoring twice in the first and second periods en route to a 5-2 win Tuesday night.
Coach Don Granato no doubt has a lot to ponder about his club the rest of this week before it reconvenes to prepare for the February games added to its schedule to make up for December and January postponements.
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This team is only on about a 65-point pace. More saves are needed, as it became plainly clear how much Craig Anderson was missed since early November. Survival in close games has to improve, too. The prevailing wisdom is this is a dramatically better club and there's empirical evidence to back that point.
But the final analysis isn't as pretty. A 65-point team likely would leave the Sabres ahead of only woebegone Montreal in the standings.
Tuch, who has been brilliant at times with 13 points in his 13 games with the Sabres, said the stress of the team's massive injury bug and all the false positive Covid tests it endured over the weekend means players need to get away from hockey and reset their minds.
"We've just got to get our game quicker," Tuch said. "We know the way we want to play. I thought we did well against Colorado in the last two periods there. But once again, we were trying to dig ourselves out of the hole and when you're playing against a team like Colorado or Vegas, it's gonna be really hard to come from behind."
A real concern is when players are having off nights. Tuesday's game was the fifth time in the club's last six games that it lost by three goals or more in regulation. When this team goes haywire, especially early in a game, it rarely emerges from the fog.
Krebs’ role is far different with the Buffalo Sabres than it was with the Las Vegas Golden Knights. He’s been a fixture in the Sabres’ top six since arriving from Rochester in late December.
"It's just indicative that we need to grow, we need to keep getting better," Granato said. "Part of the growth is being able to do things consistently. That's the mark of real experience is knowing that if you don't have it tonight, and you're not feeling good, you're not feeling yourself, you know how to compensate for it."
The Vegas game was the kind of mismatch most observers expected in Colorado, where the Avalanche were on a 17-game home winning streak until Buffalo hit town. The Sabres gave up a goal 33 seconds into the game to Reilly Smith and were burned in the first two minutes of all three periods.
"We have players that when they're off and their game is off, they don't know how to compensate and tweak some things just to stay productive or not expose themselves," Granato said. "Maybe they try too hard. They will (over) handle a puck. If you're not feeling it, just chip it (into the zone) or keep shorter shifts and don't fight it."
Despite 31 shots on net and stellar goaltending from Dustin Tokarski, the Buffalo Sabres lost 4-1 to become the latest victim of the Colorado Avalanche’s 18-game win streak at home.
The Sabres have shown pockets of good play but not nearly enough to say they're ready to take a big leap. There's a lot of instant pressure that's going to sit on Owen Power's shoulders when he likely arrives in April.
"We want to build something here," said center Cody Eakin. "And we want to continue to get better right until the end of the season and build up confidence. Build up the right caliber of play ... the key to that is just continuing to work.
"It's going to be a lot of work and it's going to be harder. We pushed this far and it's going to continue to get harder. It's about working when we need to work, and being smart when you need to be smart."
The Sabres need to get healthy, too. They need Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen back in the net. They need Tage Thompson to play like he did earlier in the season, when he wasn't limited like he seems to be now. Once and for all, they need clarity on Casey Mittelstadt's health.
An 82-game season is a grind. This one is a double grind. Granato has to make sure his team continues to battle and doesn't buckle.
