The Buffalo Sabres struggled through arguably their worst outing of the season on Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Few teams can pull off what the Sabres did. Buffalo’s goaltenders struggled, but that was one part of the equation. When a team gives up eight goals on 22 shots allowed, it often points to them allowing their opponents to take advantage of high-quality chances.
Per Jane McNally of Sabres.com, Tage Thompson summed it up perfectly. Following the blowout loss, Tage said, “…we just gave up way too many odd-man rushes and a team like that – they don’t miss many. I feel like we just kind of shot ourselves in the foot, just giving them free looks.”
It was a recurring theme for all three periods. Buffalo allowed four goals in the first two periods — two in the first and two in the second. Then came the third-period tidal wave that saw Nikita Kucherov score three goals in fewer than 15 minutes.
Allowing a hat trick to an opponent is never good, but in 15 minutes? It drives home what Tage said. The Lightning will make every single one of the league’s other 31 teams pay if they do what the Sabres did on Wednesday.
Sabres’ Offensive Aggression Comes At A Cost
It wasn’t like the Sabres played a bad game offensively. They logged 31 shots on goal, outshot Tampa in two of the game’s three periods, won 48.5 percent of their faceoffs — which is an accomplishment for Buffalo — and converted one out of their three power-play opportunities.
The problem? When you get too aggressive offensively while playing a complete hockey team, it will cost you.
Besides Tage, head coach Lindy Ruff offered his own criticism, saying, “You look at the opportunities we started the game with, don’t let the frustration of not scoring lead to giving teams the other opportunities.”
That’s what the Sabres were guilty of on Wednesday. It wasn’t just Tage who noticed the issue, but the head coach watched the same game. If the Sabres want to avoid another embarrassing loss like what they sustained against Tampa, patience will be key.
Sabres Face Immediate Test After Disastrous Homestand
The Sabres finished their most recent homestand on Wednesday night, and it wasn’t a good one. Besides losing big to the Lightning, Buffalo finished 1-3-0. They must now immediately embark on a road trip, starting with a meeting against the Chicago Blackhawks.
If there is a team for the Sabres to get back on track against, it’s Chicago. The Blackhawks are 4-13-1; they rank 31st in scoring with 39 goals, and 31st in goals allowed with 76.
Chicago has lost six straight games, and they are 1-8-1 in their last 10. That said, the Blackhawks, at some point, are going to break their losing streak.
While the Sabres should see an opportunity to get back into the winning column, the Hawks will also see an opportunity. Buffalo just exposed its biggest weakness. If the Blackhawks can frustrate the Sabres to the point that they get overly aggressive, fans will see a repeat performance.
So, they need to take Tage’s and Ruff’s words to heart and refuse to make the same mistakes in back-to-back games.
Sabres’ Tage Thompson Calls Out Troubling Pattern After Lightning Rout