BUFFALO, N.Y. — Don Granato didn’t mask his displeasure.
The Sabres’ coach walked into his postgame news conference after Buffalo’s 4-1 loss to Arizona and opened with a statement before taking questions. He wasn’t interested in what the stats said about the Sabres’ performance. He could tell his players wanted an easier game and weren’t willing to get the type of ugly goals needed to win against a Coyotes team willing to lock things down defensively. The Sabres had pucks bounce off their own players and into their own net. They had plenty of puck possession but didn’t make Coyotes goalie Karel Vejmelka sweat nearly enough.
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“That’s an indication of us not being ready like we should have been,” Granato said.
Granato hasn’t said that often about his team this season. They lost an early game to the Panthers, but it was closely contested. They lost a listless game on the road against the Kraken, but that was the tail end of a lengthy road trip.
There weren’t many excuses for the Sabres to be less than sharp Tuesday night. They had a pair of road games over the weekend but had two days off in between. They had Rasmus Dahlin back in the lineup after he missed the loss to the Lightning on Saturday. Ilya Lyubushkin was in again, as well, though he was playing at less than 100 percent. The Coyotes aren’t a complete pushover, but they’re a team the Sabres should beat.
“We didn’t play hard enough in the areas we need to play hard,” Granato said.
The Sabres controlled the game for most of the three periods. They had nearly double the shot attempts and finished with more scoring chances and high-danger scoring chances. Those stats didn’t matter because of where Buffalo’s shots came from too often.
“We weren’t willing to play harder as needed, as the game itself dictated,” Granato said. “It was a situation where you needed to score on tips or banging in rebounds or second and third effort. We didn’t get to those areas and get pucks to those areas to do that tonight. I think the assessment I’m making, I don’t think I’m going to need to bring a whole lot to the attention of our players. We’ll talk about it, but I think they recognize that full throttle. Everything I said here, I know they feel it and they know it.”
That’s the hope. The Sabres have lost three in a row, which is their longest skid of the season. The next two games are against arguably the two best teams in hockey. Jack Eichel and the 12-2 Golden Knights visit Thursday. Two days later, the 11-2 Bruins are in town.
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“You have to pick up the pieces and move on with a bitter taste in your mouth to make sure we’re dialed in,” Granato said. “Obviously, the next game is an opponent you certainly can’t take lightly.”
The big picture matters here, too. As frustrating as a loss to the Coyotes was Tuesday, it wasn’t as if the Sabres were helpless in the game. The first goal came on a turnover that was a miscommunication between Owen Power and Kale Clague. The result was an easy net-front pass and one-timer for the Coyotes. The second goal was a cross-ice pass from the Coyotes that deflected off Dylan Cozens’ skate and into the net. The third was a shot from the point through traffic that was tipped.
At five-on-five, Buffalo had 47 shot attempts to Arizona’s 23. The Sabres had eight high-danger chances to the Coyotes’ three. The Sabres had 71 percent of the expected goals, the highest percentage they’ve had in any game this season.
What has become a trend when the Sabres struggle is their inability to execute the small details. Effort wasn’t necessarily the Sabres’ issue, so much as attention to detail and a willingness to bear down around the net. This is one bad loss with a few unfortunate bounces sprinkled in. That it came in a string of three straight losses is where the concern lies. But the Sabres are now one of eight teams in a league of 32 that has had a three-game losing streak this season. The league has produced 118 losing streaks of three games or more since the start of last season. This isn’t an unusual occurrence.
The Sabres need to identify what’s behind these losses and what can be fixed. To recap the losses:
- 5-3 at Hurricanes: The Sabres played a closely contested game against a Stanley Cup contender only to lose late. As Granato put it that night, they lost because of experience, not skill.
- 5-3 at Lightning: The Sabres played without Dahlin and still had a third-period lead against a tough Tampa team. Eric Comrie played stellar but let in a late goal.
- 4-1 versus Coyotes: The worst loss of the bunch for the Sabres. Even the Zamboni broke down.
Taken in isolation, each of those results isn’t a huge problem. The problem is this latest loss was against the one team on this stretch of the schedule that was supposed to provide reprieve. The Sabres played like it. The Lightning, Hurricanes, Golden Knights and Bruins are all among the top eight betting favorites to win the Stanley Cup. Dropping a chance to collect two points against the Coyotes stings a bit more when they were sandwiched in the middle of those teams on the schedule.
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“I do think our guys will look in the mirror on this one,” Granato said. “It’s just frustrating and aggravating in the moment. You’ve got to take it to heart.”
The Sabres don’t have an obvious quick fix. Henri Jokiharju is getting closer to a return, but the defense is going to continue to play at less than 100 percent until Mattias Samuelsson is back in the lineup. They could put Vinnie Hinostroza back in the lineup to bring a boost of energy to the forward group. Granato could continue to tinker with the power play.
All of that is secondary to this young team being able to turn the page quickly with two elite teams coming to town. Earlier this season, a loss to the Panthers angered players. They responded with three straight wins on the road. They need a similar response to this streak to avoid slipping too far in the standings.
“Just keep working,” Rasmus Asplund said of how the team needs to respond. “Keep playing our game because we know we can have success when we play the way we want to play. We have a great team and we’re going to be a good team. It’s a good learning experience for us, I think, and we just need to bounce back here now with a big game on Thursday.”
(Top photo of Sabres goaltender Eric Comrie making a save during the third period against the Coyotes: Jeffrey T. Barnes / Associated Press)
