MONTREAL — The Buffalo Sabres held a playoff spot three weeks ago.
Now they’ve plummeted to last in the Eastern Conference.
“Sure does suck, doesn't it?” forward Alex Tuch said in a bleak Sabres dressing room Tuesday night. “It's horrible.”
The struggling Sabres suffered their 11th straight loss, falling 6-1 in a flat-footed effort against the Canadiens — one day after owner Terry Pegula flew to Montreal to give his reeling team a pep talk.
“Out-competed, lost battles, got away from us,” defenceman Connor Clifton said. “Just no legs, no jump, no energy. You think with the meeting yesterday, being on a 10-game losing streak, at least we’d have legs and energy.”
“We obviously got embarrassed tonight,” he added. “It’s hard to look forward and put that one past us. We had a big meeting yesterday and 10 in a row, like I don't know right now."
Patrik Laine scored a hat trick with three power-play goals to lead the Canadiens, who are hardly world beaters as the second-worst team in the East standings.
But the damage was done well before the Finnish winger blasted three shots from the left circle past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Joel Armia opened the scoring 19 seconds into the game, capitalizing on a wide-open net after Sabres defenceman Owen Power mishandled the puck off the end boards. Montreal created a neutral-zone turnover to create a rush the other way.
Buffalo also took 10:05 to record their first shot. The Canadiens had nine at that point, including two goals.
"They came out with a lot more energy than we did,” Tuch said. “Came out flat-footed, for some reason no spark in our game, and it showed. They came out with a purpose and took it to us."
Head coach Lindy Ruff said he was “almost lost for words” after Saturday’s 5-3 loss to Toronto. The experienced bench boss put the onus on himself to find solutions for the “toughest solve I've been around.”
Ruff didn’t shoulder the blame on Tuesday.
“Our puck play again, early in the game, it really hurt us,” he said. “They pressed hard, but we could have made better plays."
While calls for a drastic change in the organization are bound to happen after yet another gutting loss, the Sabres players said they need to look in the mirror and take responsibility.
"We just need more from each and every guy. Every part of our game right now needs more,” Clifton said. “It's snowballing right now … we gotta be more prideful.”
Asked why the Sabres couldn’t parlay a visit from the owner into a stronger start, Ruff pointed to an opening goal that took the wind out of their sails.
"When you don't execute up ice, bad stuff can happen, and it happened on the first goal,” he said. "That first goal just bothered us too much.
“You get a tough break going the other way, and all of a sudden we gave them energy, and I think that fuelled them right off the bat, which did not allow us to really get into our game."
Buffalo managed to get things under control for the last half of the first period before Dylan Cozens scored to make it 2-1 three minutes into the second.
Then the Sabres committed a string of penalties, leading to two 5-on-3 penalty kills and two goals from Laine as hats covered the ice midway through the second period.
“I found some holes today,” said Laine, who has six goals in seven games this season, all on the power play. “But overall at least from myself, it was kind of an average game.
“There was a lot of hats, so unfortunately for the fans, some of them lost hats, but for a good cause.”
Help is on the way to Buffalo soon. Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin (back) took the ice for morning skate Tuesday and said the plan is for him to return from a seven-game absence Friday.
Sabres players said they believe there’s still a chance to get back in the playoff race, even though their season outlook has drastically changed in less than a month.
"Season's not over,” Tuch said. “You have to look at yourself in the mirror and realize that you haven't been good enough and that your team needs you more than ever."
"We expect better, and it starts from within right now,” Clifton added. “We're looking around, we're waiting for someone else to do something and make something happen. We're in it right now. Got to find our way out of it."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 17, 2024.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
