A month without a win is a very long time in the NHL, but it’s a reality for the NHL’s perennial underachiever Buffalo. At least it will be soon, because on Monday it will be exactly one month since the team’s last victory. The losing streak is unimaginably long.
Especially in Buffalo’s case, the latest slump is a significant disappointment compared to expectations. After coming out of underperforming, the Sabers have underperformed year after year and haven’t been to the playoffs in 13 years.
A new head coach already known to the club Lindy Ruffin in management, the honor had to be restored this season.
What else. There are 13 losses in a row and a quality team in itself has once again drifted into complete chaos.
The team’s Finnish goalkeeper Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen now comment on the fall season’s plunge cycle.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, how can you be on a losing streak of 13 matches after all the years, beautiful speeches and hard expectations?
– Good question. If I knew the answer, I would tell others. Much has been said about the workload. A lot of people also make the same mistakes over and over again. There are many things that lead to losses that could be done differently.
What level of panic is there within the team when you’ve become a jumbo in the Eastern Conference?
– I don’t see panic. It seems that there was more panic after losing five games in a row. Now we’re just trying to find a way to get out of this. When you have lost 11 matches in a row, you should be able to do something, not just look for a solution elsewhere.
At the end of the season, we talked about how the defense is being improved under the leadership of defense-oriented Lindy Ruff.
In the 18 previous matches, you have scored at least five goals eight times. For the previous three seasons, you are ranked 28th in the statistics of goals conceded.
What’s wrong with the defense?
– We make the same mistakes every game. When we come to the defensive end, we are on a different page and everything does its own thing. It shows. When there is no common system on the defensive end, it will not be good, no matter how hard you try. There is some ambiguity in how we should play at home.
Has the team’s five-a-side game been poorly organized, when year after year your own head bleeds?
– It would be easier for field players to answer this, but I feel that last season’s simpler way of playing helped. Now it seems that new things and changes have only complicated things. Especially now, when many have been lost in a row and there is also pressure from that.
You have represented Buffalo for five years, playing more regularly in the NHL for three years. Is there something rotten in the club culture, when a high-quality team in itself collapses at regular intervals into terrible sideslips?
– I can’t believe that there is a bigger flaw in club culture. Quite a few times here, all the authors have changed. I have already said many times that many players should look at themselves.
– It’s always easy to look for answers somewhere other than yourself. Now you have to improve your own stuff and not make the same mistakes every game.
Do the players demand enough of each other in Buffalo?
– I believe that they demand. It’s the same as what I said before – it’s always easy to demand from others. Is he able to maintain his own level and demand from himself, I think that is a more important question at the moment.
What kind of emotional outbursts or explosions have been seen within the team?
– Nobody here is satisfied. There has been a lot of talk among the players and yes it shows in frustration.
The head coach said he bears the responsibility for the slip. Star center Tage Thompson said it’s the players’ responsibility to turn the tide by starting to struggle and fight on the ice.
How can it be that after all the years and hard expectations, it is in Buffalo that we have to emphasize the importance of work ethic? Shouldn’t work ethics be the starting point?
– Good question. Now everyone should get their own business under control. It doesn’t matter who demands that work, if in the end no one does it. Then it doesn’t matter who coaches.
Buffalo has not reached the playoffs in 13 years and the failures follow each other year after year. How palpably does the undeniably heavy history on the players’ shoulders feel?
– Yes, it can be seen. Before this losing streak came from California, where we had won all three games. We were on the playoff line. In that, you could see how quickly things change in this series if you get too caught up in a good or bad feeling.
– Now both happened to us. We were too happy with the situation, even though we hadn’t even played many games. Now then, you can see how quickly we got involved in negativity again. After that, it’s hard to turn the sled.
Buffalo has been striving to rise to the NHL’s elite level for years. What separates this team from the top teams in the NHL?
– It is not possible to bring a good enough performance on the ice every night to be able to play for a win. Playing is an up and down movement. There will be good and bad games, but there will be no consistency.
– We are starting to have a lot of players with long contracts – myself included – who should be able to play better even on worse nights.
– Consistency must be found and a clear identity for the team. It’s missing.
How often is the faith in Buffalo’s seemingly eternal project put to the test?
– Hard to say about this. However, it’s only my first year when I have a more established place in the team. In previous years, I played more from my own position. I look at it from a slightly different angle.
– Of course, now that I’ve been the number one hitter in the early season, I’ve started to notice certain things, which I’ve mentioned here as well.
Owner Terry Pegula flew by private plane to Montreal earlier in the week to talk to the team. What was the owner’s message?
– It was great that you came, but we went through pretty much the same things there as now here. The solution lies in the players themselves.
At what level has your own game been during the losing streak?
– There have been good games there. It’s also on my shoulders as a goalkeeper to help. It doesn’t matter what the goals are like if six of them go behind. It’s pretty hard to win then. I always want to find something to improve in my own work.
The playoff line is eight points away and the Moneypuck site gives you a 0.7 percent chance to make the playoffs.
After all the hard years and 13 consecutive defeats, where does the team find faith in a better tomorrow?
– The whole season hasn’t been lost yet, there are still 50 games left. There is enough time here to turn the tide. You just have to go one game at a time and trust what you’re doing.