Columbus Blue Jackets embarrass Buffalo Sabres 9-4

Jason Karmanos had three decades of experience and three Stanley Cup rings when he joined the Sabres as associate general manager in the spring of 2021. It’s not typical for him to be on the road with the NHL team because he runs the Rochester Americans and oversees the scouting department.

They saw how Sabres players and coaches reacted and strategized after an ugly loss to the Avalanche. The managers then watched in Las Vegas as their team scored four goals in the third period to stun the defending Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights. Then, the Sabres were shut out by the Coyotes before the long flight back to Buffalo.

The Sabres understand how they need to play to beat teams. Their players have spoken about it amongst themselves. But, as the Sabres were reminded by the angry fans in KeyBank Center on Tuesday night, actions matter more than words.

They were booed mercilessly while allowing seven goals in a span of 21:52, as they were embarrassed on home ice in a 9-4 loss to the rebuilding Columbus Blue Jackets.

“We can say all the things we want to say in the locker room, we got to go out and do it,” said Sabres center Tage Thompson. “It’s as simple as that.”

The scene was ugly. The Sabres were trailing 7-1 with 12:05 left in the second period. Fans bellowed Bronx cheers.

A few chanted for Adams and owner Terry Pegula to fire Sabres coach Don Granato only eight months after he led the franchise to its first 90-point season since 2011. They ranked third in the NHL in goals and seemingly every player on the roster achieved personal bests.

Kyle Okposo, the Sabres’ captain, pushed back when asked if the team had quit on its coach. He insisted that he should be blamed for how they played after taking a 1-0 lead only 30 seconds into the game. 

“We gotta find it,” he said during his six-minute postgame interview with a scrum of reporters. “It’s not an easy road that we’ve made for ourselves. It just seems that collectively we’re in the middle of a sophomore slump.”

We’ve seen the Sabres reach rock bottom numerous times throughout their NHL-record, 12-year playoff drought. None were as mindboggling as the one Tuesday when you consider the talent on the roster, the playoff expectations laid out by their general manager three months ago and the team’s inability to string together wins or consistently beat lesser opponents.

Last season, the Sabres were a fast, high-scoring team that got pushed around by bigger, more experienced teams too often and gave up too many scoring chances. But they’ve struggled to maintain that scoring touch while attempting to become a better defensively and miserable to play against. Their negative-20 goal differential is the fourth-worst mark in the NHL.

The Sabres seemed to be in line for a confidence-building win when Dahlin collected a pass from Dylan Cozens and beat goalie Daniil Tarasov with a high shot. It was only the 13th time in 33 games that Buffalo had a 1-0 lead.

It was gone just over 10 minutes later. Then, the Blue Jackets scored seven unanswered goals, three of which were scored on consecutive shots. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen gave up two goals on two shots after he replaced Devon Levi, who was pulled from the game after he allowed four goals on 18 shots. The goaltending duo had to watch as their teammates didn’t put up a fight until it was 7-1 late in the second period.

“It wasn’t good enough,” said Granato.

No kidding. The Sabres had only two shots on goal in the final 18:40 of the first period. Blue Jackets winger Kirill Marchenko completed a hat trick when he scored twice in 18 seconds with 12:05 left in the second period. Buffalo’s goaltending wasn’t good enough but neither was its coverage in the defensive zone, particularly from forwards. 

Granato huddled his players together during TV timeouts to strategize. 

He switched forward lines to try to create a spark.

Nothing worked until Okposo shot a puck off a Columbus player to make it 7-2 late in the second period. The Sabres added two more goals, with Thompson and Dylan Cozens having one apiece, but those were quickly followed by the Blue Jackets adding their eight and ninth of the game.

Granato always expresses confidence that his players will respond appropriately after bad losses. They did multiple times last season, including an 8-game losing streak in November and 1-6-2 stretch in April.

But this version of the Sabres has not inspired the same confidence, nor have they shown the ability to play the right way each night. They’ve beaten the Lightning, Maple Leafs, Avalanche, Penguins, Bruins and Golden Knights, among others, but those victories are typically followed by dud performances.

“This group is resilient,” said Granato. “They care. And those two those two traits will push them through.”

They’re running out of time. Forty-nine games remain in the regular season, but the Sabres fare 13-17-3 and their .453 points percentage is 26th in the NHL. Their 29 points were third-fewest in the NHL. They are 1-9-3 after a victory and have won consecutive games only once this season.

The Sabres know how to play to win. We’ve seen it against some of the best teams in the league. But a road map to success is useless if it’s not followed. 

“It’s going to be on all of us to find solutions and we’re not going to stop trying to find those,” said Okposo. “We’re going to look at the tape, we’re going to speak. We have done a lot of talking and now it’s time to go out and play.”

Here are other observations from the game:

Make a trade once the holiday roster freeze ends, Kevyn. Put a player like Victor Olofsson or Tyson Jost on waivers. Stop carrying three goalies.

Do anything necessary to send a message to your team that what occurred on home ice against a bad opponent isn’t acceptable and won’t be tolerated. Nothing on the ice will change if the standard doesn’t.

This team has lacked urgency since the start of training camp, and it has started at the top with management. The Sabres were unwilling to trade one of their three goalies, they prioritized prospect development in training camp rather than preparing for the season and made the group too comfortable by bringing back almost everyone, including players who weren’t good enough to be in the lineup late last season. What message does that send to that locker room? 

To properly evaluate the situation, Adams must make everyone in that locker room uncomfortable with a bold roster move. Patience has served the general manager well in the past, but now, it’s time to act.

“He can only do so much,” Thompson said of Granato. “He can put the guys on the ice, he can draw up the system on the boards. But he sends guys over the boards, and if they’re not doing their job, it’s not on him, it’s on us, and everyone in this room knows that. We’ve got to take accountability for that.”

The Sabres would still be stuck in a perpetual, post-Eichel rebuild if it weren’t for Granato. Let’s recap what he’s done in his third full season as coach:

• He was the one who decided to move Thompson to center, which helped the 6-foot-6 forward produce 85 goals over the past two seasons.

• Alex Tuch became a top-line, do-it-all power forward after he arrived in Buffalo as part of the Eichel trade.

• Dahlin developed into one of the best defensemen in the NHL when Granato gave the 2018 No. 1 draft pick the green light to play to his strengths and implemented a system that took advantage of the Sabres’ speed.

• Jeff Skinner scored 68 goals over the past two seasons after he languished on the fourth line under Ralph Krueger. 

• JJ Peterka used a challenging rookie season under Granato to become a reliable, top-six fixture for the Sabres. Granato helped Peterka, Jack Quinn and Zach Benson develop in the NHL even though you could make a strong case that each were rushed to the league.

Imagine where the Sabres would be if Granato failed in any of those areas. It’s no small feat to help so many players achieve the career-highs they did last season. And patience is owed to the coach given that he’s done more behind the bench than anyone in Buffalo since Lindy Ruff.

The bar isn’t high, of course, but Granato deserves more time to show he can right the ship, especially when you factor in the roster’s deficiencies and the various injuries that have depleted the lineup. 

The Sabres host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday at 7 p.m. Then, they hit the road again to play the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.