The Sabers are overwhelmed with the 0-3 loss to the Islanders

(WGR 550) – There haven’t been too many games where you can say the Buffalo Sabers were overloaded for most of the game, but Saturday’s 3-0 loss to the New York Islanders was one of them.

In the first period, Buffalo did a good job of getting pucks and men to the net, but they didn’t work hard enough to release pucks around the crease. Early on, Sorkin dropped a puck with Jiri Kulich right there, but he didn’t fight hard enough to get the puck in. He certainly wasn’t the only one, as the Islanders caught and bounced just about every loose puck around their net.

Buffalo got a break in the first period when Casey Cizikes was ruled offside before Matt Martin was left alone in the crease and scored. This allowed Buffalo to leave the period 0-0.

The Islanders came into the game with the league’s worst power play, but scored just 20 seconds into their first attempt when Owen Power stood next to Anders Lee in the goal crease instead of fighting with him, and Lee easily slotted in a pass from Kyle Palmieri net directed the goal area.

Just 2:05 minutes later, Henri Jokiharju was in top form in the neutral zone, but lost the fight to Lee, who went 2-on-1. He passed the puck to Simon Holmstrom for a layup and a 2-0 lead.

Buffalo did manage 12 shots on Sorokin in the third period, but many of those came in the final three or four minutes as James Reimer replaced the extra attacker. This was the only portion of the game where the Sabers fought hard to get inside and try to score.

Rasmus Dahlin was once again not at his best. On the power play, Brock Nelson took the puck from Dahlin to pass to Reimer, who made a good save to save his captain. Dahlin was way too careless on this piece and paid for it. In the third, Nelson completely stripped both Dahlin and Tage Thompson to break in, but Reimer made another big save. In the final 10 seconds of the game, Dahlin handed the puck directly to Holmstrom, who scored the empty-net shot.

This is the third time this year that the Sabers have lost three games in a row. Once it came after a good 4-1-1 run and this time it came after a 7-2-0 win. I just don’t think they’ll make the playoffs, even if they have a good series.

Another big problem at the moment is that they have only scored 13 goals in their last seven games. The Boston Bruins averaged 1.86 goals per game during this time, the worst in the NHL.

Since April 2016, the Sabers have played the Islanders on the road in three different buildings and New York has gone 13-1-1.

Things don’t get any easier on Tuesday as Casey Mittelstadt returns to Buffalo for the first time as a member of the Colorado Avalanche.