(Episode 16) Panthers 4, Sabres 1: The One Where We Start Questioning Jack

I’m running out of adjectives to describe how frustrating it often is when you decide to devote roughly three hours of your life to turning on the television and watching a Buffalo Sabres game, or even worse spending your hard earned money on a ticket.

Instead, I’ll give the recap honor to Dave Davis of the Buffalo Star, who needed but a one sentence tweet to sum things up perfectly.

Boring, dull, uninspired hockey. Again.

— Dave Davis (@DaveDavisHockey) November 11, 2017

The Sabres were absolutely dominated on their home ice on Friday night in front of a rightfully pissed off crowd that’s about had enough of this nonsense. They weren’t overwhelmed by the Pittsburgh Penguins or Tampa Bay Lightning either. No, they got their asses handed to them up and down the ice by the Florida freegin’ Panthers, 4-1, who even after the victory only pulled into a tie for the fewest amount of points in the Eastern conference.

All the Sabres momentum following a victory over Washington Tuesday night—gone.

Yep, It’s November 11, 2017 the campaign is merely 16 games old and the Buffalo Sabres are tied for last in the conference yet again.

Kyle Okposo scored the game’s first goal for Buffalo and the offense wasn’t heard from again. Frankly, Florida skated circles around the Sabres over the final two frames and sure, the Buffalo was tied after two and just one goal down in the waning moments before the Panthers pumped in a pair of empty netters, but this contest was lopsided in pretty much every way.

Less than a quarter of the season gone and it’s not too late to start asking a few legitimate questions. They include:

Is Phil Houlsey in over his head as head coach? There’s a lot of new parts and injuries have been a factor but there’s zero excuse to have visibly regressed from last year.

Is it wrong to be mad at Jack Eichel? 14 points in 16 games is good statistical production but the Sabres franchise player has just four goals and hasn’t impacted many games of late. He’s too talented and the organization went through far too much for Eichel to just be a “nice” player.

Why is the defense so deplorable? Risto Ristolainen and Zach Bogosian are out but still, there’s just not a lot of talent on the blue line. Marco Scandella was supposed to be an impressive upgrade but frankly he’s sort of been a disaster.

MVP: Robin Lehner allowed a weak Florida go-ahead goal on a wrist shot from the point but to be fair he was completely screened. Lehner played excellent and kept Buffalo in a game they appeared to have little interest in leaving victorious.

LVP: Eichel has to start meaning more in games like this. Being hold scoreless and leaving the ice with a minus-three rating isn’t acceptable with a franchise player. This is the type of game Eichel should dominate. He didn’t.

UP NEXT: The Sabres have no time to lick their wounds. They’re right back on the road Saturday night in Montreal. If they resemble anything we’ve seen tonight, that shit could get really ugly.

PREVIOUS RECAPS

(Episode 15) Sabres 2, Caps 1: The One Where They Beat A Quality Opponent

(Episode 13) Sabres 5, Coyotes 4: The One Where Pouliot Leads The Way

(Episode 12) Sharks 3, Sabres 2: The One Where Jacks Birthday Gets Ruined

(Episode 11) Jackets 5, Sabres 1: The One Where We All Mail It In

(Episode 10) Sabres 1, Red Wings 0: The One Where A Winning Streak Starts

(Episode 9) Sabres 5, Bruins 4 (OT): The One Where They Stop Bottoming Out

(Episode 8) Canucks 4, Sabres 2: The One Where They Need More Pride

(Episode 7) Vegas 5, Sabres 4 (OT): The One Where I Fell Asleep

(Episode 6) Sabres 3, Ducks 1: The One Where Buffalo Breaks Their Cherry

(Episode 5) Kings 4, Sabres 2: The One Where Rasmus Goes Soft

(Episode 4) Sharks 3, Sabres 2: The One Where “It’s Not Fun”