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In these meltdowns, Do they even try to score in the 3rd period? or do they just allow the opponent to dictate everything and turtle in the fetal position waiting for the inevitable collapse? it’s such a mentally weak team. Just embarrassing for a tough gritty city. I’ve harped on the home losses for years and they just can’t solve it. No one fears coming to our arena.

It’s just a never ending vicious circle down at the arena. I have no issue with the fans booing. They would boo in every other NHL arena if their teams missed the playoffs a couple years in a row and couldn’t win home games, let alone 13 years or whatever. But the booing and empty seats leads to resentment amongst the players because they feel they are trying hard and not trying to play poorly. So they hear it, play messy at home, not having fun, etc.. they get tight or nervous when the momentum starts to flip, and lose their fundamentals for whatever reason. The fans expect things to go bad, the players expect things to go bad. and everyone goes home a loser.

The thing is, Buffalo being situated on the Canadian border and near the massive population of the Golden Horshoe region, has always made it popular w NHL’ers. Many, made WNY home even after their playing careers. Hockey players are not scared to live and raise a family in cold climates. Well, that is until Pegula became owner and made this franchise into the joke of the league.

There’s no positives regarding the Sabres. It’s hockey hell for the fans and players….and if I got drafted by the Sabres i’d fear my career will never live up to the potential. But since the thread says positively i will say that Pegula has done a good job with the Bills and Bandits. Er, i should say at least he hired the right people and got out of the way.

It’s amazing to think that Terry wants this aggravation and to have the Sabres part of his portfolio. It’s been a tremendous failure. Sometimes you have to walk away. He bought the team, he wanted to get a Cup for the city, and he failed. If he sells to new ownership and they move the team i’d be sad but would understand. Buffalo was a top 5 hockey market back in the early 2000’s and it’s been destroyed.

This loss is more Rock-bottomy than Colorado imo. All i asked in offseason was for Ruff to get these guys to protect home ice and not have this be such an easy place for opponents to get regulation wins. Started out ok and now it’s been a complete disaster.

They still stink on home ice for the most part. as usual. They need a road trip in the worst way. Where they just play simple, time tested road hockey. and it sometimes feels like the goaltending is better on the road too.

Crazy right? I've thought about this too... since two of my kids were in 1st grade during last playoff game, now they are sophomore's in college and pretty much adults. Hard to wrap my head around that.

Take a deep breath. The bar is set low for me so while I'm disappointed over blowing a 4-0 lead and losing 4 straight, I don't expect them to be a playoff team this season. I believe they are woefully average or below. For whatever reason, these guys go too many games without scoring and/or the D just stinks. Some nights when they do score and the D is serviceable, the goalie lets them down. They are still mentally weak, they don't have enough playoff proven guys that are leading the way. It's just a lot of names that have never been there or done it...so they don't really know how to do it. I thought Tuch would be a massive infusion of playoff leadership and Cozens would unlock his scoring potential. But in this environment in Buffalo they are just nothing special.

It's a tough deal, but if you have been asleep for the past couple months, just woke up this morning and looked at the NHL standings you'd say "Eh, not great but the Sabres are only a few points off the 8 seed have a minus 2 goal differential.... they can play better and get there over the final 57 games" There would be some positivity. The problem is we lived through some losing streaks already and now it's up to four games after blowing a 4-0 lead. In our brains we cannot get past that horrible loss.

Yep, it's very well known around the league that the Sabres building it where points are attainable. You can bet the Jets, Utah, Wings and NYR will be coming here for "get right" games. No teams should be outworking the 13-year drought Sabres in their own building yet they most often do.

The Sabres have massive problems. Obviously the core group of young guys are not good enough to make the NHL playoffs, even in their prime years now. So they really overestimated how good the players are in the room. But also, their inability to protect home ice and have a solid winning% at home is absurd. Their performances over the last several years on home ice have been disgraceful. I mean just recently they lost here to Montreal and the Islanders, Vancouver and Minnesota. They got like 1 point in all those games... and last night getting zero points is the cherry on top.

I've wanted Terry to sell the team for over 4 years now. Any new owner would come in and accidently fall into better hires and player performances than what Terry has done.

The Bills win a lot of games, make the playoffs, provide entertainment and some civic hope., even the Bandits actually win Championships. The Sabres organization should feel like complete failures in a league that is designed for every team to cycle in and out of the playoffs every few years. The model is not for any one team to suck for 14 seasons with no end in sight of making the Tourney. I mean Seattle has been in the league for 5 mins and arguably better. Forget comparing to Vegas as they are in a different universe than the Sabres. I wish Terry would sell the team. If they get sold and unfortunately moved then so be it.

What a stupid thing to actually think and feel in a game. did he really say that?! what kind of competitors are on this club? They should be the most desperate players in the league for every shift until they make the playoffs

the Buffalo Sabres reason for existence is to make other fan bases happy and giddy after playing the Sabres.

I wasn’t watching at that moment but my son texted me when it became 4-2 and said Dad we’re gonna blow this. And they sure did. Shame, but i’m kinda numb to it and despite being a huge fan growing up and going to tons of games, i have not attended a Sabres home game in 10 years. Just a massive disappointment every season.

The Caps are exactly what i thought the Sabres would be this season. Just coming out every night, regardless of opponent and being the more desperate and physical team. They weren’t expecting too much from Ovi this season based on last year, but he’s done well. Even without him, they have a bunch of guys that muck it up and grind out wins.

They just aren’t the desperate team i thought they’d be after 13 seasons or whatever it has been.

Yep. i’ve been telling my friends the same for a few seasons now. This team should be the most desperate club in the NHL, every night, every shift. It’s complete madness to miss the playoffs for this many years. They should be able to outwork everyone enough to get in.

It’s a total bummer but i’d still rank this as a good “loser” point. This team last year would not have come back, and lost in regulation. so at least they got 1. The core of this club still has problems protecting their home ice. For years they don’t win enough at home to be a serious threat to make the playoffs.

5 periods back from the road trip and 1 goal go show for it. Seems like goalie is fixed and offense is just blah this season. Where’s Cozens? i figured by Thanksgiving he’d have 10 goals.

Hopefully the Sabres, fans and media personalities who post about them, enjoyed being in the Top 8 for a few days. They’ve been there before, just can’t stay there. Stop posting and being giddy about that stuff in November. When it’s March and they are still in a good position then i’ll take it seriously. Lindy has done a pretty good job, he’s holding guys accountable and it feels like their home wins are up compared to previous season starts. I agree with others that this team needs another scorer to step up. I really thought Cozens would go off this year. If they struggle putting the puck in obviously they will miss the playoffs another season.

That’s a game the Sabres win 3 out of 4 times. They were just stoned by a great goaltending effort. Not much you can do, just try not to let one loss turn into 2/3 more in a row. I was more impressed by their effort in a loss than i was in some recent wins. they even out i guess. Still not a playoff team in my opinion as it will be very competitive for probably just one spot, but Lindy has made them better.

Empty net goal inevitable