The schedule got easier Tuesday night. The Buffalo Sabres got worse.
On a night when it appeared that defense was optional at times, the Sabres got dumped by the bedraggled Vancouver Canucks, 5-4, before an announced crowd of 11,130 in KeyBank Center. That's six losses in a row and counting for the Sabres, who fell to 7-9 and have just about lost all the goodwill borne from their 7-3 start.
It was Buffalo's fourth straight loss at home, all coming in regulation in an eight-day stretch, after the Sabres opened the season 4-2 in their first six games downtown.
And the opponent this time was not Carolina or Tampa Bay or Vegas or Boston.
Vancouver (5-9-3) is one of the NHL's worst teams, a club that came into the night 15th in the Western Conference and 30th overall. But captain Bo Horvat led the Canucks with a goal and two assists and Vancouver scored a pair of power-play goals in a 72-second span of the second period to take charge with a 5-2 lead. The Sabres got what they deserved, too, often dropping coverage in the defensive zone, and were routinely getting beat to pucks across the ice.
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"No question. Easy. Too easy out of the gate," coach Don Granato said sternly. "And that is a big lesson that needs to be learned now. Period. We lost the game through the first 20-so minutes. So there is no nothing to take from it after that. It's just very disappointing that we didn't start better."
On a night they were far from their best, at least the Sabres didn't quit. Alex Tuch's deflection at 11:12 of the second period and Casey Mittelstadt's snapshot to the top corner with 7:58 left in the third got Buffalo back within one. But the Sabres never got a good look against Vancouver goalie Spencer Martin with Craig Anderson pulled for a 6-on-5 situation over the final two minutes.
The Canucks consistently found open ice in the Buffalo zone and got the puck to the slot with impunity for good looks against Anderson, who didn't get a lot of help. Shots on goal were 32-32 for the game but it was 27-17 for Vancouver through two periods.
The Sabres fell behind, 2-0, as Vancouver's Dakota Joshua capped a nifty three-way passing play at 8:10 and defenseman Ethan Bear scored his first with the Canucks on a wrist shot at 9:18. Jeff Skinner cut the deficit in half at 11:15 of the first.
The second period started badly and got worse. Elias Pettersson's mid-air tip at 31 seconds made it 3-1, but Skinner got that back on a Tage Thompson pass at 3:43. The Sabres then took two straight penalties, one by Ilya Lyubushkin and one by Rasmus Dahlin, and couldn't kill off either one.
J.T. Miller scored at 7:13, beating Anderson directly off a Horvat faceoff victory, and Horvat made it 5-2 at 8:25 after going in alone on a Brock Boeser feed. It was the 11th straight game the Sabres have given up at least three goals and it was the fifth time in that stretch the defensive yield was 5-plus.
"You're not going to get easy games, easy periods, not going to get easy shifts," said Skinner. "And for us, especially now, there's gonna be times when you're feeling good, you have confidence and things are going well and it seems a little easier in your flow. It's about sort of grinding through this and just having more urgency."
Here are some more observations on the game:
1. Top line piles points
The Sabres were essentially a one-line team in this game as their top trio did the bulk of the work. Skinner had two goals while Tuch had a goal and two assists and Thompson had two assists. But none of them could connect on the power play as Buffalo went 0 for 3 with only five shots on goal against the NHL's worst penalty killing unit.
"It's a learning experience," Tuch said. "We're learning together but we've got to be better."
"'Tuchie' I thought probably played one of the better games I've seen him play," Skinner said. "I think he was he was all over the ice."
2. No homecoming
Anderson played well in Saturday's 3-1 loss to Boston but it was a mild surprise he got the call Tuesday, given the fact the club plays Wednesday night at Ottawa. Anderson has not had a return game against the Senators since the pandemic hit but the Sabres opted not to give the 41-year-old that start, given what figured to be a late-night arrival into the Canadian capital and no morning skate because of the back to back. Eric Comrie will instead start.
"We just figured he felt good after the game the other day," Granato said before the game. "We've talked a lot about him being rested and feeling that he can play close to that 100% with his energy recharged. Why put him on a flight and then arrive at 1 a.m. and not get a pregame skate tomorrow? ... He's had so many situations like that in his career. You have a career that's 20 years and I think those special moments diminish."
3. Around the boards
• The Canucks entered the game seventh in the Pacific Division and were 2-6-2 on the road. And as you would imagine, that has the heat rising on coach Bruce Boudreau.
Said TSN Insider Darren Dreger of Boudreau on Tuesday night: "The preference would be to wait, but there's also growing concern among the Vancouver Canucks' brass that the longer they wait, the bigger effect it's going to be on the players."
• Buffalo defenseman Henri Jokiharju had 18:14 in his return after missing nearly a month with a facial fracture. Buffalo rookie Owen Power was on the ice for only one of the Canucks' five goals and finished with a plus-3 rating while playing 26:49.
• Thompson had team-highs of six shots on goal and 12 attempts.
4. Next
Wednesday night's game in Ottawa will open a three-game Canadian road trip that also goes to Toronto and Montreal.
Said Granato: "On the coaching side, we'll obviously continue to push and demand and grind. Absolutely, we'll be doing plenty behind the scenes. Play direct, simple and hard. That would be the objective."
