Sabres Gobbled Up By Kraken In Latest Embarrassment

Buffalo started off well, but then little else went well after that.

Score: Buffalo Sabres 2-6 Seattle Kraken

Shots: BUF 36-30 SEA

 

Buffalo Sabres Goals: Lafferty (2), Quinn (8)

Seattle Kraken Goals: Evans (5), Burakovksy (4), Bjorkstrand (12), Kappo (6, 7), Tanev (8)

 

Plus 1: A Good Start

After the positive result in Ottawa, Lindy Ruff stuck with the 11 forwards – 7 defensemen formula to keep Dennis Gilbert in the lineup, and with good reason.

First Sam Lafferty got the crowd going early on Kids Takeover Day with a goal after just a couple of minutes. The Sabres had started the game hot with 24 shot attempts to Seattle’s two halfway through the period. Then Jack Quinn kept his points streak going with Buffalo’s second goal, his twelfth point in twelve games.

Gilbert got the crowd going less than a minute later with his pugilistic tendencies against Oliver Bjorkstrand, and the Sabres ended the period leading 2-0 with a 16-7 shot advantage, having scored their fifteenth first period goal in nine games. All good in the hood, right?

Only one team looked like they had had a team talk at the intermission, and it wasn’t the Sabres.

The story of the second period was something we’ve seen over and over again, which was Buffalo getting cocky with the puck when they have the lead. Between overdoing that final pass and making some critical turnovers, Seattle were able to level the game with less than a minute to go in the second period.

The Kraken had the edge in shots in that second frame going 14-9 against Buffalo, and more critically breaching Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s defenses twice.

Into the third period we went with everything on the ice to play for. And that’s where it all went wrong.

Clearly the Sabres have lots they haven’t worked out quite yet. While they still have a horrendous record when chasing the opponent’s starting goaltender, turns out they aren’t very good either when leading in any manner, especially at the KeyBank Center.

2:18 of madness early in the third period took the Sabres from a shot at two points to absolutely none. Bryson’s inability to clear the zone, Power’s reluctance to engage his man, and then Dahlin taking an unnecessary penalty led to three quick goals which took the game away from Buffalo.

I’d love to attribute this latest defeat to some greater motif for the season, but I’ll be honest, I’m just tired of this team being gutless.

Final Thoughts

With rivals around them faltering, this was an opportunity for the Buffalo Sabres to rack up another win and keep the pressure on them. Instead, they maintained their brutally awful recent record against expansion teams and folded to a miserable defeat.

Play one game at a time has been the message to Buffalo for some time. They’re just going to have to file this defeat away with the rest of the awful back-half performances they have recorded over the season, but it’s game like this that provide more fodder to the mill that they are simply not ready to play competitive hockey day in, day out.