The Buffalo Sabres are off to a slightly slow start in November, and it does not get any easier when one of the Eastern Conference’s top clubs arrives in town.
The Sabres will finish a four-game homestand Wednesday night in their first meeting of the season with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Coach Lindy Ruff’s squad has dropped two of three games this month and slots a disappointing sixth in the Atlantic Division.
The coach said missed opportunities have plagued his club, which has netted seven goals in the three games, with most of those coming in a 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.
Beck Malenstyn notched Buffalo’s only goal Sunday, his first of the year, in a 4-1 loss against the Vegas Golden Knights.
“We (had a number of chances) but didn’t put any past the goaltender,” Ruff said. “And I think the power play took the wind right out of our sails.
“We had probably up to six to 10 opportunities in that same area where we just needed to be a little harder.”
Standout forward Tage Thompson shouldered some of the blame.
“I think we started the game playing the right way, and then the second (period issues) starts with me. Just too many turnovers kind of bled throughout the team,” Thompson said. “Just trying to get too cute at the line, giving them free offense and then we’re chasing the game at that point. Kind of deflating.”
Thompson leads the club in goals (10) and points (19), and he is tied for the team lead with a pair of power-play tallies. He has accumulated a plus-6 rating.
The Lightning entered their Sunday game in Winnipeg having earned points in six straight games (4-0-2), but they left with that streak over and a star player hurt.
With a 5-on-3 advantage for almost the entire final minute, the Jets survived blowing a 3-0 third-period lead by receiving the game-winning goal from Mark Scheifele for a buzzer-beating 4-3 victory.
The game appeared bound for overtime as Tampa Bay worked a solid kill near goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, but defenseman Ryan McDonagh tried to burn the time by pinning the puck to the boards after whiffing on a clearing attempt.
Cole Perfetti dug the puck out and fed Scheifele, alone in front of Vasilevskiy, for a wide-open one-timer for his first power-play marker with 1.6 seconds left.
“That sucked. That’s pro sports,” Brandon Hagel assessed.
“Listen, we played two games in less than 24 hours, with travel,” coach Jon Cooper said. “We went down 3-0 as a team, we came back from three-down in the last few minutes as a team, and we ended up coughing it up as a team. There’s not pointing fingers at one player. … Is (Hagel) right? Does this suck? It does.
“We lost Brayden Point and one of our defensemen had to play forward the whole game. … We were a gassed group. Sometimes the first thing to go is the mind, not the legs.”
Point sustained an undisclosed injury in the first period. He was placed on injured reserve Tuesday, derailing what had been a hot stretch for the top-line center. He totaled two goals and three assists in four November games before the Winnipeg clash.