The Buffalo Sabres certainly do not look like the team that won its first 10 games of the season. In fact, they don’t even look like a playoff team right now.

The Sabres have now lost 4 out of 6 games and their last 3 home games. This certainly is not a team that will go anyplace in the playoffs....if they do make the playoffs! While it would be practically impossible for the Sabres to fall so quickly to not make the playoffs, anything is possible with the way this team is playing as of late.

The last 3 home games are perfect examples. All three were losses against teams that they should have dominated. Instead, the roles were reversed and the Sabres didn’t seem to have a clue on the ice. That goes right from the top on down. The powerplay is nonexistent, their penalty kill is porous and their passing is on par to a Pee Wee hockey team.

The goaltending has been less than stellar these days, and that isn’t the worst of it. The so-called stars, the multi-million dollar studs on this team have not lived up to their big paychecks. Daniel Briere, Chris Drury, Maxim Afinogenov and Thomas Vanek have not been scoring like they were in the first two months. And it goes right down the line.

There were times in the Sabres 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay where the team actually showed signs of the Sabres from October. But just as quickly as that phantom materialized, it vanished. Such as been the plight of this team the past few weeks.

It is now Lindy Ruff’s job to pinpoint the problem(s) and make the needed correction. While the Sabres still have a pretty big cushion in their lead over Atlanta and the other top Northeast teams, this nose dive has to be halted immediately. Whether that means for Ruff to bench some of his starters, so be it.

The Leafs were able to overcome the loss of many of their starters by the sheer energy their replacement up from the AHL gave the team. Maybe that’s what Ruff should do. Bring up 6-10 Amerks and have them show the current Sabres what intensity is all about.

The Sabres just don’t seem to have the drive, the energy, the enthusiasm, the desperation it had in the first two months of the season. Flash back to October (forget that Shocktober snowstorm for the moment) and picture this scene. The Sabres have fallen to 1 or 2 goals back in the third period. No problem! Buffalo would storm back and tie up the game late to win in overtime or the shootout. This happened on many nights.

Now days, if the Sabres fall a goal behind, they pack up their bags and go home. The desperate and hardworking Sabres that fans grew to love has reverted back to the team of a few years ago. You know that team...the inconsistent, bumbling, cellar bound Sabres.

Saturday night before another disappointed sellout, the Sabres played so bad they should have refunded the tickets.

The fans got their hopes dampened early on when Vincent Lecavalier got the puck past a sprawling Ryan Miller halfway through the first period. The Sabres finally got on the scoresheet when Jason Pominville tipped in a rebound at the 4:06 mark of the second period. Sabres fans hardly got back into their seats from celebrating a rare Sabres goal when Ales Kotalik’s shot from the point somehow handcuffed Marc Denis just 44 seconds later.

That was the last goal that Denis would allow as the put the cuffs on the Sabres forwards, making 32 saves in all. Down at the other end, Miller struggled in goal, allowing two third period goals that had no right getting past him.

Once again, the Sabres powerplay looked more like a comedy of errors. They had a 4-minute powerplay in the first period and hardly even tested Denis. Meanwhile, as soon as the Bolts got a powerplay, they capitalized on it when Lecavalier scored.

Enough with this chemistry theme. It just isn’t there.. It is time for a huge overhaul of this team to get it back on track. That doesn’t mean a big blockbuster trade, but it does mean a huge wakeup call. Sabres GM Darcy Regier loves to sit on his laurels and receive praise for doing nothing. It is time that he gets up off his hands and does something to earn his big paycheck. Find the Sabres a gunner!

This team needs someone they can count on to score, especially on the powerplay. Tim Connolly is still recovering from his second serious concussion and may never play again. Regier gambled and gambled big time on Connolly recovering fully to help this team on offense. He gave Connolly a three-year, $8.7 million contract. While the concussed Connolly attempts to get past his post concussion syndrome, the Sabres are suffering on the ice from lack of production.

The way the team is playing now, it won’t win any games in the post season. If Regier continues to sit on his hands, that prospect won’t change.

Meanwhile, Ruff can and probably will start sitting some of his regulars to get results. He benched Vanek for most of the playoffs last spring, and he should not hesitate to do the same to any starter that isn’t performing up to their potential.

A perfect example of how the Sabres have to play are the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs came into Buffalo minus Michael Peca, Darcy Tucker, Kyle Wellwood, and Ian White, yet they made the Sabres look like they were shorthanded. The callups from their AHL club stepped right in and infused the team with the energy needed to put the Sabres on their heels the whole game.

The Sabres came out flat and with no drive. They were outplayed, outhit, and certainly had much less energy than the Leafs had. The Leafs blasted the Sabres 4-2, but it could have been higher as they hit the post about 4 times.

The Leafs were able to hem the Sabres in by standing them up at the Sabres own blue line, gaining possession again by doing so. This happened the entire night. The Leafs found a way to check the Sabres into a standstill and then forced the issue. The Sabres looked like a team that was afraid of the Leafs. They didn't forecheck with any intensity, their passes were way off and the Leafs were twice as hungry as the Sabres.

The Sabres fans have gotten a rude awakening this New Year. Their dreams of possibly being the best team in the NHL has gone by the wayside. Replaced is the prospect of a team very similar to the one that missed the playoffs 5 straight years. The lack of effort, the frustrating mistakes, the lack of scoring have started some fans to push their personal panic buttons.

Not Lindy Ruff. He is an expert at getting the most out of his players and he will not rule out sitting anyone in order to get some hustle out of his players. He did so last year when he scratched Vanek (who now shares the lead with 23 goals on the team) most of the playoffs. No one is so important that he is immune from sitting a couple games out.

Ruff has to look at the Leafs and see how they are playing desperate hockey. They are hungry, they are hitting and they are producing. The only thing the Sabres are producing as of late is putting the goal judge to sleep on their shooting side.

Now is the time for Ruff to find ways to motivate his team again. The Sabres are way too complacent for their own good.

Sabres Talk

The Sabres are saying all the right things. The "coachspeak" has been a way for the players to admit they are not playing well, while not really addressing what needs to be done...on the ice.

"Throughout the game we need to be better and better from the start and cut back on turnovers and throw more pucks to the net," reflected Jason Pominville.

"I just don't think we're desperate enough," added Sabres defenseman Brian Campbell after the game. "There were a lot of turnovers, and I'm not saying it's the guy with the puck all the time. Sometimes it's the guy away from the puck, the guys that aren't finding holes or getting open for your partner." 

Ruff tried to give some positive thoughts about the team's lackluster performance.

"We went at it as hard as we could in the third," Ruff insisted. "We gave them absolutely nothing in our end except Richards' shot, and Millsie would want to have that one back. But we're not finishing and we haven't got the key save at the key time."

Neither Miller nor Marty Biron has stole any games lately and that will mean that both of them will need to step it up more to please their coach.

Then Ruff commented on the 30 giveaways that sealed the Sabres fate.

"We didn't do a good job (keeping possession)," Ruff analyzed. "If you look at the giveaways in the game, that was the one area that concerned me. Some of those giveaways were on the power play and were uncontested giveaways."

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