Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Sabres fall apart against Flyers as losing streak reaches five

Flyers Sabres Hockey

Buffalo Sabres forward Patrik Berglund (10) and Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Radko Gates (3) battle for the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Dec. 8, 2018, in Buffalo N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

AP

Life comes at you fast in professional sports. It was not even two weeks ago that the Buffalo Sabres were the talk of the NHL, the hottest team in the league, and riding a 10-game winning streak that was giving their fans reason to believe in them again.

While there are still plenty of reasons for their fans to believe, things have taken a near-180 turn for the Sabres in the games since and they now find themselves on a five-game losing streak thanks to Saturday’s 6-2 home loss to a Philadelphia Flyers team that was playing without one of its best players (center Sean Couturier).

This one was by far the worst of the current streak as the Sabres allowed six consecutive goals, including four in the third period, after jumping out to an early two-goal lead thanks to a pair of goals from captain Jack Eichel. That two-goal lead was the highpoint of the day for the Sabres as everything completely fell apart after that.

Claude Giroux helped lead the comeback for the Flyers with four points, including the game-winning goal just 2:49 into the third period when he scored shorthanded to give them their first lead of the day.

By the end of the third period the Flyers were just dunking all over the Sabres with passing plays like this...

That goal made it 6-2 midway through the third period.

It is just the Flyers’ third win in their past 10 games.

But what about the Sabres? Which team is the REAL 2018-19 Buffalo Sabres? The one that won 10 games in a row a couple of weeks ago, or this one that has lost five in a row?

The answer, of course, is neither. They are neither of those teams.

They were never as good as they looked during that winning streak because they were getting every possible break to go their way, winning nine of them by a single goal, including seven in overtime or a shootout. Whenever a team wins that many close games in a row everyone associated with them always wants to chalk it up to being a tough, hard-nosed team that just simply finds a way to win. The reality is they are probably getting some good breaks here and there that are contributing to an extended winning streak, and eventually those breaks are going to start working against them. It always happens.

They are also not as bad as this current losing streak because of, quite literally, everything just mentioned.

All of those one-goal and overtime games are suddenly starting to go against them with the first four losses on this streak all coming by just a single goal, including two in overtime. The Sabres didn’t suddenly forget how to win the close games they were piling up a couple of weeks ago. They are just not getting the same types of breaks or bounces they did on the winning streak. Saturday was just a clunker. It happens over the course of an 82-game season.

So what are the real 2018-19 Buffalo Sabres? They are a team that has still taken a pretty significant step from where they were a year ago when they finished as the worst team in the NHL for the third time in five years. They have a bonafide star, Eichel, that now has a legitimate top-line winger in Jeff Skinner to ride sidecar next to him on the first line. They have a young stud defenseman in Rasmus Dahlin that looks like he could be the impact player they have needed on the blue line throughout this entire rebuild. Along with all of that they also have some young, exciting pieces (Casey Mittelstadt, Tage Thompson) that could be worth building around. They are a young, improving team that has put themselves in a pretty good position to end what has been a seven-year playoff drought. They are a team that will play a lot of close games that will sometimes go in their favor, and sometimes not. Right now, those close games are not going in their favor.

MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.