Owen Power was benched early Wednesday before scoring a late goal. ©2024, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – If you’re counting, after Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers, the Sabres have six-one goal losses during their bizarre eight-game skid.
They’ve blown multi-goal leads and had a couple of wretched outings over the last two weeks. Still, during a stunning stretch in which they’ve lost seven times at home following a 3-0-0 trip to California, they’ve played well enough to win several games.
“What, six one-goal games?” said Sabres winger Alex Tuch, who missed the net on a breakaway in the second period. “It’s a matter of just one bounce one way or another. Maybe holding a lead, maybe getting up early in the game, maybe tying it up a little earlier. It’s a game of inches. You got to keep pushing forward.”
As the Sabres become more desperate to earn that elusive victory, coach Lindy Ruff has turned to new tactics.
On Wednesday before a crowd 15,815 in KeyBank Center, he benched two of his top players for long stretches – defenseman Owen Power and winger JJ Peterka – after they made mistakes.
“Well, taking one or two shifts up to this point hasn’t worked,” Ruff said. “Sitting the odd guy out hasn’t worked. The puck management we’ve talked about that since the start of the year.”
Following Don Granato’s dismissal last season, players said they wanted their next coach to instill more accountability. In recent weeks, they’ve been experiencing it nearly every game.
Ruff isn’t messing around.
Power sat out the rest of the first period after his gaffes – he gave the puck away and did not sell out to block Mika Zibanejad’s shot – contributed to the Rangers’ power-play goal 7:01 into the game.
“I make two horrible plays on that goal,” Power said. “There’s nothing much that really needs to be said. I mean, I know it’s on me and those plays are unacceptable. So, I mean, I think that’s the accountability that we all asked for.”
Meanwhile, Peterka started the second before watching the rest of the period.
Ruff said his players’ strong response to getting benched makes him optimistic. Power still played 22 minutes, 33 seconds and scored the Sabres’ first goal 15:49 into the third period.
“I think if you look at the failed clear on an easy play to start the game with Owen, you look at how good Owen came back and played,” Ruff said. “JJ started the second period and turned it over as soon as he got over the blue line. I thought his third period was what we needed, which will make a difference. I know that’s a culture change.”
The Sabres, who had scored first in four straight games, started slowly, looking tight and unsure of themselves.
“I think we were a little hesitant at the start,” Tuch said. “I don’t think we were bad by any means. I think created chances a little bit in the first and early in the second. But the second half of the game, we were definitely the better team.”
The Sabres pushed back in the third period, outshooting the Rangers 16-4.
“I think we just started putting some pressure on them,” Power said. “We kind of weren’t sitting back or anything and just not worried about making mistakes and just trying to go out there and play hard.
“Obviously, the 20 minutes was good, but the 40 minutes are unacceptable. It’s hard to win when you don’t play for 40 minutes.”
After Reilly Smith put the Rangers up 2-0 13:29 into the third period – he put a bounce off the end boards past Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen – the Sabres made things interesting.
Power scored before Adam Fox’s long empty-net goal restored the Rangers’ two-goal lead. Center Tage Thompson’s goal at 19:22 with Luukkonen on the bench moved the Sabres back within one goal.
Too little, too late. Now, after having a stretch at home that could’ve helped them vault up the standings, the Sabres begin a three-game road trip Saturday.
“We’re not going to sit here and have a pity party,” Tuch said. “We’re going to move on. We have to move on. We’re not going to sit here and go into a shell and say, ‘Oh, the season’s over,’ because it’s not. It’s far from over. We have a lot of games left. We have a lot of opportunities to win a lot of hockey games. We got to be really good on the road the next little bit here, and when we do come back at home, we got to be a lot better.”
