This is beyond a little tinkering of the lines. Lindy Ruff has a major overhaul of either players or attitude to get this team back on track for the playoffs. The kind of hockey they have been playing this past week is completely unacceptable.

One or two losses could be explained away because they were playing stronger competition in the Senators and Hurricanes. But this has gone far enough. The team has either gone into hibernation or they have completely forgotten what made them successful for most of the season.

Something has to be done quickly to save this season from becoming a total collapse.

The Sabres sailed into Ottawa last Saturday riding an 8-game winning streak. They struck an iceberg and have not been able to stop the ship sinking since.

Sabres at Atlanta: The Sabres went into Atlanta Monday hoping that they could get right back on a winning streak again. The Thrashers had something else in mind as they whipped the Sabres 5-0.

The Sabres have shown their immaturity the this past week. From being the hottest team in the NHL, they have completely collapsed. They were bystanders in games against Ottawa and Atlanta. For the first two periods of each game, the Sabres could only muster a couple of shots on goal. This is completely unacceptable for a team that wants to go places in the playoffs...that is if they make the playoffs! At this rate, the wheels could completely fall off and the Sabres go in a historic tailspin.

Losing 4-2 against the Senators in Ottawa dampened their hopes of overtaking the Sens. With Ottawa winning on Sunday and the Sabres losing in Atlanta, the gap has widened to 5 points. However, the overly embarrassing 5-0 loss to the Thrashers sounds off alarms that this team is ready to self destruct.

Daniel Briere's harsh words to the team after the lifeless loss in Ottawa apparently fell on deaf ears. Lindy Ruff wasn't behind the bench in Atlanta as he was home at Buffalo's Roswell Park getting more news about his 11 year old daughter who may have a tumor on her brain. When the Sabres come home, I'm sure Lindy is going to have some harsh words for the team as well and even harsher workout until they snap out of this funk.

The Thrashers seem to have the Sabres number as they were the only team to beat Buffalo after the Olympic break until Ottawa won Saturday. Now they have two impressive wins over the suddenly hapless Sabres.

Hurricanes at Buffalo: The Sabres once again were no shows for the first two periods in their game against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Sabres have been completely dominated in the first two periods of their last three games, all losses. Buffalo spotted the Canes 4 goals, all in the second period, before getting back in the game with three goals in the third period. However, it wasn’t enough as the Canes beat Buffalo 4-3.

Kevin Adams came back to his home town and lit the lamp. Adams must of had dreams of that when growing up in Western New York, but he would have been in a Sabres uniform. In real life, Adams helped get the Hurricanes get rolling out of the gates in their win over the Sabres Wednesday night.

Senators at Buffalo: The Senators have had the Sabres number all season long and it continued Friday night in Buffalo as they got quite a few lucky breaks and continued their dominance with a 3-1 win over the Sabres.

Once again the Sabres were victims of a "no goal" scenario as they had a goal by Mike Grier that looked like it had crossed the line to tie up the game early in the third period. After a five minute delay by the video judges, the referee’s ruling on the ice that it was a goal was reversed.

The Wheel of Fortune has never passed through Buffalo. Neither the Sabres or Bills can every buy any breaks. The Bills had their share with the "Homerun throwback" call in the 1999 Wild Card game with the Tennessee Titans and there's always that "wide right" 47 yard miss in Super Bowl along with many other bad breaks along the way.

The Sabres? They have about 6 goals and no goals that have been either taken away from them or given to the opposition.

It comes down to what Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson said, "You make your own luck, I think."

The Senators have been certainly making their own luck this season and then some. After beating the Sabres, the Sens have already wrapped up a playoff spot and soar to 9 points in front of Buffalo...just a week after the Sabres closed the gap to one point.

Whether that goal went in or not, it seems that the Senators are not to be deterred from their complete dominance of the Sabres this season. This was the fifth win in six games for Ottawa. The only loss was a shootout loss the Sens had to Buffalo.

The Sabres finally put forth a decent effort against the best team in the NHL and tied up the game 2-2 early in the third period. Mike Grier rammed the puck through Ray Emery's pads and just across the goal line. The ref immediately signaled a goal and the video replays indicated that it just barely went over the goal line....or they?

After the longest video review in recent memory, the video judges got the help from NHL officials in Toronto and reversed the goal! The overhead shot clearly showed white space between the puck and the back of the goal line. The puck was in! Once again there seems to be a conspiracy against the Sabres as the NHL officials made a decision that cost the Sabres an important game.

The puck fluttered across the goal line and was wobbling to midway across the goal when a Senator put his stick in the net and hit it out. Even the side angle was enough to show the puck went in. If this were the NFL, the evidence would have to be completely clear to over-rule the decision on the field.

With the goal being taken away and the fact that another time the Sabres had the puck hit two goal posts and go out, the Sabres knew that the hockey gods were once again against them. The momentum they built up and would have continued if the goal had stood died right there and the Ottawa Senators were able to grab the momentum and score the insuring third goal to put the Sabres away 3-1.

The Sabres already were victims of a goal being allowed in Calgary that was kicked in earlier in the season. Even the NHL brass conceded that it was a mistake. If there is a law of averages and thing even out, the Sabres have a century's worth of golden breaks coming up sometime in the future. It just hasn't happened yet and the break just keep piling up against them.

Earlier this season, the Sabres have been victims of having the puck hit a goal post, straddle the goal line and then hit the opposite post, only to go back into play. The odds of that happening twice in one season is equivalent to winning the lottery twice. To cap that off, to have yet another "No goal" decision go against Buffalo has Sabres coach Lindy Ruff wondering what he did to anger the hockey Gods.

Which way is up?

Just how can the Sabres reverse this slide that is gaining momentum?

The sports psychiatrists are out in full force this week in Buffalo. They are trying to get into the heads of the Sabres and find out what the heck happened to the team that WAS the hottest team in the league going into Saturday's game against the Senators. Since they have been looking more like a pretender than a contender, fans are saying the Sabres are self-destructing.

Some blame it on youth, others blame it on inexperience (which goes along with the youth idea). Another theory is that the Sabres respected the Senators way too much and were in awe of the Sens. After that loss, they started to doubt themselves. The four losses that followed have the fans and maybe even the coaches in panic mode.

Maybe all the Sabres have to do is to get a little desperation back into their game. That is one element that has been lacking the past week. 

Will Ruff be able to reverse the slide and get the team back to where it was over a week ago? Stay tuned for the continuing Sabres Saga.

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