Game 16: Knowing when not to be nice
Game 16: Knowing when not to be nice
A five-game skid turned into a six-game losing streak for the Sabres in a 5-4 loss to the Canucks
Something that was mostly apparent during the first five games of the now six-game losing streak for the Buffalo Sabres was that they were competitive and in four of those five losses (Arizona being the exception despite the fancy stats). Those four losses were against some of the best in the NHL.
So, when the mired in gloom Vancouver Canucks came in on Tuesday, the final game of a five-game road trip for them, the thought was that everything the Sabres learned during this streak, including an outstanding effort in defeat against Boston on Saturday, would lead to a strong performance and possible win against a road-weary team mired in misery.
Turns out there is a reason why they play the games, because Vancouver pushed and pressured the Sabres into continual mistakes, be they turnovers or penalties, on the way to a 5-4 decision sending the Sabres to their sixth consecutive loss.
They’d taken two steps forward in defeats to Vegas and Boston after the step-back against Arizona, and now they’ve taken a step back once again. Young teams are prone to these kinds of swings, but a six-game swing into the loss column capped by an ugly performance against a team that seems on the precipice of making serious changes.
It’s not what you want.
“(The Canucks) were willing to work harder out of the gate,” Don Granato said. “They showed more determination out of the gate, and we were on our heels until we could not get on our heels. That was through the end of the first. We looked a little rattled in the second for a bit before we got to our game. The first was, they set the tempo through their work ethic. We did not. We ended up on our heels as a result.”
Vancouver scored all of their goals in the first 28+ minutes of the game. Three at even strength and two on the power play. Elias Pettersson’s even strength goal in the opening minute of the second period came 15 seconds after the Sabres managed to kill a penalty, A classic “might as well have been a power play goal” goal and considering how good the Canucks power play was entering the game (top-10 in the NHL), it was a known strength. Vancouver went 2-for-3 on the power play.
The Canucks top players stepped up. Bo Horvat, J.T. Miller, and Pettersson each had goals. They got a pretty one from fourth liner Dakota Joshua, and the object of Sabres Twitter’s desires, Ethan Bear, got his first with the Canucks.
The Sabres top line did what they could, too. Alex Tuch had his best game since he had a hat trick in Calgary with a goal and two assists. Jeff Skinner had two goals and Tage Thompson had two assists. Casey Mittelstadt also had a “might as well have been a power play goal” in the third period scoring five seconds after theirs ended. A valiant third period effort can be inspiring if they’d played well throughout the game.
That was not the case.
“It's tough to take anything from the third when you start and basically lost the game through the first 20 or so minutes,” a very pissed off Granato said. “So, there is nothing to take from it after that. It's very disappointing that we didn't start better.”
Granato didn’t want to hear anything about goaltending. Miller’s power play goal in the second seemed to rankle the internet because Craig Anderson had a clean look at it from distance. Of course, the Sabres wouldn’t have been in a position for that lost faceoff to happen if not for a bad penalty from Ilya Lyubushkin.
Some goals happen because of singular moments, sometimes they happen because of compounded mistakes. Granato has been clear that goaltending is not a major concern right now because of errors that have occurred elsewhere, be it defensive coverage, gap control by forwards and defensemen, and outright turnovers. Goalies take the hit, but too often it’s the end result of mistakes. Mistakes can be learned from, of course, but repeated ones are signs of a problem to be dealt with.
So… What do you do with this? The Sabres don’t have a lot of time to digest or wallow in this defeat as they’re playing in Ottawa on Wednesday to start a three-game Eastern Canadian roadie. Like the Canucks, the Senators have had their struggles and are in the bottom-five of the NHL standings. The Sabres aren’t in a position to take anyone lightly, particularly teams that are more on their plane of existence like Arizona and Vancouver.
If you wanted something to smile about through all the grime, there’s this Dahlin pass to Skinner for his first goal of the night at least:
