The conquered Sabres limp home
By Rick Anderson
November 8, 2002
The Sabres left Buffalo after losing on the home front to the New Jersey Devils on Friday, October 25th. They left with a sigh of relief that they would not have to play in front of acres of empty seats for two weeks. Now the battle-weary and injured Sabres crawl back a very dejected team. They went winless in their six road games, breaking a franchise record of 5 road games without a win. Buffalo managed only two points during their tour of duty, both of them 1-1 ties. The Sabres left town with little ammo and came home with only blanks in their arsenal.
Six games, six goals. One goal per game average. And this coming from a team that promised that this was going to be a different season. This was the year that the Sabres players proclaimed they would break out of their scoring drought and light up the scoreboards around the league with an explosive offense. They lived up to their lofty goals in their first two games when they scored 11 goals, only to be shutout in Chicago in their third game of the season. That was a sign of things to come.
During the 6-game road trip, the Sabres were shutout twice, the latest being a 2-0 loss at the hands of the Stanley Cup finalists Carolina Hurricanes Thursday night. Zero wins, four losses and two ties. The Sabres, counting the loss to the Devils in their last home game, are now winless in seven. They have 1 win in their last 11 games, and 15 goals in that span. That certainly not something that will get the fans lining up for tickets.
"We're extremely frustrated," said a dejected James Patrick before Thursday's game. "We're quite a down team right now. We have to rebound, but right now it's just extremely disappointing."
The media and the fans are pointing fingers. The team may also be doing that behind closed doors, but are maintaining that they are working hard and doing their best, but are not getting the bounces.
"I've never seen a drought like this," said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. "You've got to believe that with that type of work ethic and the penalty-killing we got (against the ‘Canes) we'll be successful."
"It's going to take a bounce," Ruff projected the next Sabres goal sometime before the New Year. "It isn't going to be a pretty goal. It's going to go off someone and go in."
The Sabres had a 2-man advantage in the second stanza against the ‘Canes for a minute and a half. They didn't even come close to scoring.
"We had three or four opportunities, one missed shot," Ruff said about the failed 2-man advantage. "Right now, it's a round peg in a square hole."
No matter how one looks at it, there are gapping holes in this Sabres Ghost ship. If one leaked is plugged another two leaks sprout up and make the ship sink even faster. Ruff is as dumbfounded as the fans about what is haunting the Sabres.
The powerplay is nonexistent. The penalty kill has not been as effective as last year. There isn't any emotion on this team any more. They are playing like zombies on skates.
As in most cases, the coach is the one to feel the heat when a team is faltering. Ruff, who is in his last year of his contract, is under extreme pressure to somehow save the ship and its passengers. He may not be able to go down with the ship as even General Manager Darcy Regier must face the fact that at some point, a change would have to be made to save the franchise.
Ruff has had numerous conversations with Regier about making a trade to shake up the team.
"You've gotta understand that Darcy and I always talk about what can help the club and what's available," explained Ruff. "Goal scorers don't fall off trees and top two defensemen just aren't sitting out around the league. We're always talking about trying to make our club better, and if there's something there, you can often just change garbage for garbage, and you often can lose good, young players in the process.
Even so, with the Sabres crashing and burning this season, the Sabres may be forced into dealing someone just to attempt to stem the tide.
"We're definitely in the market of looking for what can make our club better, what can push us into a situation where we can really get on a roll."
With only one potential ownership bid in for the Sabres, it is imperative for the team to play well to come close to selling out games again. With the latest horrendous road trip, the Sabres will be lucky to fill half the seats the next two games. They do play Toronto next Friday and that normally is a complete sellout even before the season starts. However, even the Leafs are playing poorly this year and not as many Leaf fans will be traveling down the QEW to take in the game.
The hockey experts have no clue how the Sabres are going to get out of this mess. Should the Sabres try to make a trade to get some offensive firepower? Just who do they have to offer, besides a goalie, to get a 30-goal scorer? Will firing Ruff be the answer? Can Gary Bettman make that decision without the approval of the lords of hockey?
Right now it appears as if the Sabres just don't have players capable of putting the puck in the net. J.P. Dumont hasn't been a ball of fire this year and Curtis Brown is doing his usual turtle act. Brown has yet to score a goal and he is of no value to this team if he can't start producing. Chris Gratton started off on a hot streak, but his hands have turned to ice lately. Miroslav Satan is still suffering from a bruised hip and missed two games. He is not expected to be in the lineup until at least next week.
Maxim Afinogenov has finally been able to ride the exercise bike without any headaches and has started to slowly start skating again. His return to the lineup will not probably happen until December.
With the two most dangerous weapons out of the lineup, the rest of the team has to pick it up and show aggression and fire in order to start scoring. They are not going to do it with trying to set up fancy plays. Those days are gone and just getting a goal will be praised as a miracle. They almost had a goal against the Hurricanes, but it was ruled kicked in by Vaclav Varada. Pucks are hitting the post and not going in. Opponents are scoring goals after the net has been jarred off its moorings. Nothing is going right in a season where everything is at stake.
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The Buffalo Sabres came home as vanquished warriors. They came home forlorn and downtrodden. They had left their homeland hoping to conquer lost territory, to make something happen to get their brethren excited and exonerating them again. Instead, the Sabres were slaughtered in every battle they fought. They were led by a modern day General Custer, Lindy Ruff, and his battle plans led to a deadly ambush.
Sabres' goalie Mica Noronen gets ready to stop a shot as 'Canes Jeff O'Neill gets in on the action in Carolina's 2-0 win over Buffalo.
[AP Photo/Frank Franklin II]
Who's to blame for the shipwreck?
What's it going to take to start winning?
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