Winless in four, the Sabres are losing ground
By Rick Anderson
February 18, 2000

The Buffalo Sabres had a very beatable opponent at home Thursday night. By losing to the Vancouver Canucks 2-1 before a very disappointed crowd at Marine Midland Arena, the Sabres blew a great opportunity to draw closer to the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race. The Sabres have now made their task of making the playoffs much more difficult.

The Canucks have been struggling lately and were tired from a lengthy road trip. They were ripe for the taking, but somehow the Canucks were able to outwork the Buffalo and do what they had to do to ensure the victory.

Dixon Ward stands in crease as Felix Potvin covers up on shot

The back-breaker for the Sabres once again came in the third period, just like it has in the past four games. Donald Brashear stormed into the Buffalo zone, pursuing after a wayward pass. Brashear fell to the ice and took a swipe at the puck from inside the right faceoff circle. Somehow, someway the pesky puck got past Martin Biron. Most of the 18,154 on hand knew that the Sabres could not score a goal with only 6:14 remaining. That's how much confidence they have in the Sabres scoring abilities these days.

"I've got a few lucky ones this year," said Brashear about his surprising goal. "Sometimes you get great scoring chances and miss them. Sometimes you get the ugly goals."

"It doesn't matter if you make 50 saves or 10 saves," said Biron who stopped 24 shots in the game. "You have to stop the last one that gives them the win."

"Sometimes (passes) don't come on the tape," Brashear continued. "Sometimes you need to make a second effort to catch it."

The Sabres, who played one of their most physical games of the year the night before in Pittsburgh, came out of the chute looking like they were sleep-walking. The hitting game had stayed south in Pittsburgh and they did not put much pressure on Canucks' goalie Felix Potvin. Buffalo only managed 23 shots on goal, when they ripped off 35 against the Penguins. The effort was simply missing against the Canucks.

"We're probably thinking, "These guys aren't going to try hard. These guys aren't in the playoffs and they don't need points,' " Satan analyzed. "It's not going to happen that way. They're all going to work hard. They all want to win games. I guess we're just not ready for these kinds of games."

Mattias Ohlund got things going for the Canucks when he took a wrist shot on Biron during a power play that Biron failed to catch with his glove. Ohlund was pinching in from the blue line when he scored his third of the season with 4:42 left in the first period.

Michael Grosek who has been deeply entrenched in Lindy Ruff's doghouse, got Buffalo's lone goal in the second period. Grosek circled from behind Potvin and threw a backhand that went over Potvin's right shoulder. That goal was a pair of 11's for Grosek - it was his 11th tally of the season and ended his 11 game streak without a goal.

"I have struggled the last 12 games," commented Grosek. "It was a big point for me."

"It was a huge win, a character win," beamed Canucks' coach Marc Crawford after the game. "By the end of the game, it symbolized what paying the price means."

Meanwhile, Ruff is befuddled on how to get the Sabres to score more than two goals a game.

"We're not going to win any games scoring one or two goals a game," Ruff said. "There is a lot of pressure on the goaltending and every little mistake is crucial."

The Sabres got a power play at the 16:55 mark of the third period when Arten Chubarov clipped Maxim Afinogenov in the mouth with his stick. With the season winding down and Buffalo desperate for victories, the Sabres still could not muster any offense during the man advantage and failed to get off a shot on net. The ineptness of the Sabres' power play is one of the main reasons why they find themselves looking up at the final playoff spot.

"When it comes down to it, Marty has done an unbelievable job all year long," said Stu Barnes . "He's played great for us right from the start. It goes back to the old story, and that's us not scoring goals again. It's tough to win when you only score one or two goals a game."

While Biron allowed two goals that he could have stopped, he played an excellent game against the Canucks. Goaltending has not been the problem this season. Putting the puck in the net has been the No. 1 fallacy of this team all season.

Last year, Buffalo was able to get the power play going throughout the playoffs and it was the newfound ability to score with the man advantage that helped push the Sabres through all their series and got them to the Finals. Right now, the Sabres are anchored in the bottom of the ocean with the worst power play in the league. Being a team that has been having a terrible time scoring more than 2 goals a game all season, one would think that the coaching staff would concentrate on making the power play work during practices. The coaching staff is defensive orientated. Both Ruff and Mike Ramsey were defensemen. Don Lever was a forward during his playing days, but he is not be one of the best offensive strategists. What is definitely lacking on the Sabres' coaching staff is someone who knows the ins and outs of today's offensive game in the NHL.

One of the classic examples of the Sabres coaching being able to make the offensive game work is rookie Maxim Afinogenov. Afinogenov has all the tools to become a great scoring machine. There are three main problems that are hampering his development of becoming an NHL standout: The language barrier, his age and the lack of a good offensive tutor. Afinogenov was a much better player when he first came up to Buffalo from Rochester. The coaching staff with the Amerks got his game on track and his head in the fast lane. With Ruff, Afinogenov doesn't know if he's coming or going. Ruff has him benched for half of most games. He usually never gets any playing time during the third period. He is considered a defensive liability by Ruff.

The Sabres would not even have to hire an offensive coach at this time. There are a couple ex-players who are already associated with this team who would be glad to offer their services on a consulting basis. Two members of the old "French Connection" come to mind as leading candidates as offensive consultants the Sabres could ask to come in and show the kids some techniques during practices. Gilbert Perreault and Rick Martin were two of the greatest players during the 70's in the NHL. Perreault already has some coaching experience in the Juniors and he could directly relate to Afinogenov, as the Russian kid has explosive moves and speed just like ‘Bert did. Martin still lives in Buffalo and could show the young talent in Buffalo some of the tricks he used during his reign. It's not a bad thought having some fresh minds come in and hold a clinic. Nothing that Ruff, Ramsey and Lever are doing is shaking the team out of its scoring doldrums.

With Dominik Hasek declaring this week that he intends to play one more year, it is now up to the front office to produce the talent around him to "get the job done." John Rigas promised the tools and has yet to deliver. Darcy Regier did a good job in signing all the free agents (except for Joe Juneau). After seeing the maladroit job that John Butler did with the Bills free agency situation, one must give Regier kudos for keeping the majority of the players from last year's Stanley Cup Finalists here with not too adverse affect on the salary structure. However, he has not been able or allowed to pull the trigger on a deal that would help take the Sabres up to the next level. The team needs a playmaker and/or proven goal scorer to even make the playoffs this year. The time is running short. A deal for some offensive talent is needed before the trading deadline. Waiting too much longer could put the final nail in the Sabres' coffin as far as even reaching the post season is concerned.

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