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 | The Sabres have made a habit of starting strong, but can't seem to do much from there. | | Vancouver - February 2, 2015 - Following every Sabres game, we’ll be taking a little look at the previous night’s action with a little segment called “good, bad and ugly”. Expect a loooooooot of ugly.
The losing streak continues as we dive into losses on Thursday and Friday to the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks.
The Good
When you’re in the midst of a 14-game losing-streak, there’s really not much good to harp on. That said, the Sabres have made a habit of late of starting the game on the right foot. Believe it or not, the Sabres have started the last five games with the lead. Seems impossible, right?
Things that tend to get lost in awful seasons like this are the little things that can be bigger deals going forward. Finishing games when you have the lead, never giving up even when you’re losing late and, yes, starting the game off with the lead. It might not be paying dividends right now, but when this team starts to catch up in the talent department, these leads won’t be evaporating quite like they are right now.
The Bad
As good as it is that they’ve been getting out to fast starts, they’ve been just as bad building on those starts. Obviously, they’ve lost 14-straight, so those last five games where they started the scoring, they obviously didn’t finish it.
One of the things that makes a team bad are things like these. Sure, talent is a huge issue with this current incarnation of the Sabres, but the biggest thing is that bad teams just find ways to lose games. I know it’s vague, but it’s true. The inverse is true, too: good teams find ways to win. It seemingly doesn’t matter how well teams like Buffalo play, they just don’t know how to finish and win games yet.
The Ugly
It seems like the internet is starting to get up-in-arms over the Sabres and their losing ways. Which, I sort of get that mentality. It feels like the Sabres aren’t trying and that they’re so very “obviously” tanking and yada yada yada.
The fact of the matter is that the Sabres aren’t the first team to trade off assets to get draft picks and build through the draft, nor are they the last. Hell, they aren’t even the most egregiously bad team this year. Why is no one blasting the Oilers, who have been bad for the bulk of a decade? Really, we’re going after the Sabres who are in their second season of being awful? Which one do you think is going to turn it around first?
If we’re going to criticize the Sabres, how about calling out the Oilers, the Blackhawks, the Penguins and any team that lucked into a couple of top picks and then built their core on those picks. It’s a risk, obviously, but it’s either that or simply “competing” even though you’re not really competing for a Stanley Cup.
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