Game 28: A seventh in Hockey Heaven

The Sabres blew a 5-3 third period lead and lost 6-5 in a shootout to division rival Detroit to extend their winless streak to seven games.

BUFFALO — Call it a must-win game if you want to, but when a team is deep into a losing streak like this, every game is a must-win just to break up the monotony and misery of coming out on the short end game after game. But when the opponent is also neck-deep into a losing streak, throwing the weight off your own back and onto your opponent is reason enough to win.

The Detroit Red Wings came into Buffalo riding their own five-game losing streak compared to the six-game skid the Sabres were mired in. Just like when the Winnipeg Jets arrived in town with a four-game losing streak and left town piling that pressure on the Sabres, the Red Wings did the same in a way that helped turn the knife a bit more on Buffalo.

The Sabres blew a 5-3 lead with less than 10 minutes to play in the third period and lost 6-5 in a shootout. If it wasn’t for the mind-blowing collapse against the Colorado Avalanche a week ago, this particular loss to a similarly fighting it Detroit team would ache in the bones to ponder. Instead, the feeling left behind from this seventh straight Sabres loss is a brutal kind of shellshock.

“We looked tight, and that’s product of not winning,” Tage Thompson said. “Lose however many in a row, it’s easier for you to grip your stick a little tighter, be a little more nervous to make a mistake. Usually you do that, it just compounds things, makes it worse. So it’s just got to be a mindset. You just got to want the puck on your stick, want to be the guy that’s going to make a play, and I think right now, we just look nervous to have the puck. I think we’re just afraid to make mistakes and lose a game when we have leads. That’s what it looks like to me, how it feels.”

More ahead on another frustrating loss for a team that’s deep into hard times.