Sabres Running Out Of Answers After Loss To Leafs

The atmosphere on a weekend night in December with the archrival Toronto Maple Leafs in town and a large cohort of their fans in attendance usually possesses a high level of electricity and energy. No matter how good or bad both clubs are at the time, they normally provide an entertaining, exciting and compelling contest.

That was not the case in the Buffalo Sabres 6-3 loss to the Leafs at KeyBank Center on Friday night. The vibe in the building was one of frustration and impending doom, as Buffalo fell behind early in the first period on a Bobby McMann goal, had Alex Tuch’s tying goal wiped out by a Jason Zucker high-sticking penalty, and saw Auston Matthews extend the lead on the ensuing power-play.

The Sabres were undone by repeated defensive faux pas in the second, as Nick Robertson and Max Domi’s tallies sandwiched JJ Peterka’s goal to get Buffalo on the board. Goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was pulled and Toronto took a 5-1 lead midway through the second period, before the Sabres slowly climbed back into the game, with Mattias Samuelsson and Owen Power narrowing the lead to 5-3, but a goalie interference review wiped out Power’s second goal of the game that could have reduced the deficit to 5-4.

“You've got to earn your breaks, and we're not doing that right now," Zucker said after the game. "We've got to make better decisions and make sure that we're helping each other out. If you're going for an offensive play, and you're expecting somebody to make a certain play, and they don't, it gets turned over. You're typically in a bad defensive spot, so you've gotta be careful."

The inconsistent play has been the one consistency that the Sabres have shown during this stretch. The losing skid started with a pair of decent efforts against Minnesota and Vancouver, where they ran into hot goaltending, but the blown 4-1 lead to Colorado on December 3^rd seems to have undercut the confidence of the club, and blown leads to Detroit and Toronto have made the month of December into a season killing death spiral.

"We're not a good team at chasing the game, as soon as we start chasing the game and (taking) risks, we expose ourselves too much," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said.

The Sabres have road contests in Boston and Long Island before the Christmas break to snap end this miserable stretch, but at this point, it seems as if the outcome of the 2024-25 season has already been etched in stone.

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