Uncharacteristic lapses lead to shutout loss vs. Calgary

Vinnie Hinostroza echoed the message from his coach in the moments after the Buffalo Sabres' 5-0 loss to the Calgary Flames inside KeyBank Center on Thursday.
Don Granato assured players that they would revisit the loss to learn what they could. Beyond that, they would need to move on from what was an uncharacteristic performance on home ice.
"Obviously, that's not what we want to do and how we want to play," Hinostroza said. "Kind of an embarrassing effort at home and it's not up to our standard, so obviously we're all going to be upset about it, kind of rattled tonight.
"We're going to come tomorrow, watch some video, see what we need to do to get better. We're definitely not hitting the panic button. We have five games in seven days coming up and that's time for our group to make a statement."

The Sabres entered the evening with a 5-2-1 record at home. They held the NHL's leading offense to two goals during a win over Edmonton on Friday and lost to a streaking Toronto team during the dying seconds of regulation on Saturday.
Buffalo followed that back-to-back set with a road win in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, albeit one that required a 19-save third period from goaltender Dustin Tokarski.
"I do think maybe the third period in Pitt maybe carried over to today," alternate captain Zemgus Girgensons said. "I mean, not the way we play."

Granato saw differences in the two games. The Penguins were pushing aggressively to erase a 2-0 deficit and managed to generate multiple scoring chances when the Sabres were on the power play. But Granato still felt his team weathered the storm confidently and limited second chances at even strength.
The energy was different against the Flames, who entered the night ranked second in the NHL with an average of 2.13 goals allowed per game. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom posted his fifth shutout in just 13 games played this season, a feat matched only three times in the modern era.
"We played a lot of the game in front of them, lateral instead of taking an opportunity to put the puck to the net, especially early, or put pucks behind them just to back them off," Granato said. "They played a great game as far as gap and gap control and we just didn't put anything behind them."

The result was transition offense, which led to Johnny Gaudreau's opening goal at 10:30 of the first period. The Sabres lost the puck on a forecheck and left room for Matthew Tkachuk to send a stretch pass to Gaudreau at the opposing blue line with a step on the nearest defender.
Calgary extended its lead on a goal from Andrew Mangiapane just 1:42 into the second period. The Flames blew the game open with three goals scored within a span of 1:37 later in the period, beginning when Tkachuk was left alone streaking down the right side of the ice seconds after the Sabres had completed a penalty kill.
Gaudreau fed a pass through the middle to Tkachuk, who scored from the right circle.
"If you look at it, just uncharacteristic of us to not be aware of that lateral play coming across, pick it off or contest it better," Granato said. "But then it was a letdown. So, we didn't react competitively from that point and that tells me it was the whole mood of the night. The guys just didn't feel themselves."

Andrew Mangiapane scored his second goal of the night on a 2-on-1 rush just over a minute later. Gaudreau added his second on a power play, once again the product of a feed across the net.
Granato pulled Tokarski following the second period and replaced him with Aaron Dell.
"We were just sloppy," Granato said. "So yeah, that was a tough night. Dustin was not the issue. In front of him was the issue."
The Sabres will have ample opportunity to right the ship during the upcoming week. They play the Rangers on the road on Sunday before returning for home games against Columbus on Monday, Boston on Wednesday, and Montreal on Friday. The stretch concludes with a visit to Detroit on Saturday.
"I think you look around the room tonight, everyone is pretty rattled," Hinostroza said. "I don't think anyone played up to their potential and we're the ones that know that. I think everyone as a whole on our team, we're hardest on ourselves.
"I think it's big that we go home, think about it a little bit, come tomorrow, video session and hard practice. … We have a great group of guys. I think if you look at any team, even the teams that win Stanley Cups, every year they have games like that. It's definitely not something we're panicking about, but it's definitely something we can't let happen again."

Up next

The Sabres visit the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. Coverage on MSG begins at 5:30 p.m. The puck drops at 6.