The Buffalo Sabres were the hottest club in the National Hockey League for more than three months, but as they near clinching a post-season berth for the first time since 2011, the club has returned to the world of mere mortals, falling out of first place in the Atlantic Division after a 4-1 loss to Ottawa on Thursday.
The Sabres won three straight on a Western road swing late last month, but since have lost four of their last six games (2-2-2). All four losses have come against clubs (Anaheim, Boston, Detroit, and Ottawa) who are battling for a playoff spot or positioning, while Buffalo can clinch a playoff spot with a single point or a loss by the Red Wings any one of their remaining games.
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The odds are still in the Sabres favor of finishing with home ice advantage in the first round. According to Moneypuck.com, the Tampa Bay Lightning have a 52.8% chance of winning the Atlantic (with a game in hand over Buffalo), while the Sabres have a 32.9% chance. Both clubs play on Saturday, with Buffalo in Washington and Tampa hosting the Bruins, before they face off in their final meeting of the season on Monday.
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Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson scored his career-high 13th goal of the season to open the scoring in the second period, but former Sabre Dylan Cozens tied it for the Senators late in the middle frame, and the home club took over the game in the third, outshooting Buffalo 12-7, scoring the game-winner from Lars Eller and adding a pair of empty-netters.
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Head coach Lindy Ruff spoke after the game:
Was it tough to find open ice in the contest?
I don’t know if it was tough or they took over the game last two periods. I thought they outskated, they out-competed. Their desperation level was just higher than us. As simple as that.
The game was tied going into the third, which is where you wanted to be:
I thought they were better than us. Simple as that, their compete was better. They won more battles. You look at the empty net, even the fourth goal. We had four guys in the corner. They have one and they’re gonna come out and score an empty net goal. We dump it in and we just give them a breakaway on the six and five. We weren’t good. We weren’t good enough to win the game.
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What was said in the room after the second?
(We) talked about winning more battles. Didn’t feel like we were coming out of the corners with any puck, and a lot of the wall battles were going their way.
How disappointing was it that you could not take advantage of the Senators depleted defense?
That’s all we talked about was they were down to five and and we didn’t stress them out enough. I just felt didn’t generate enough high-quality opportunities, and the game was sitting there, and they took it over.
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