Hutton took the same approach on Friday, when the Sabres returned to practice following their 6-5 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. It was an emotional game, one in which defensive miscues spoiled another strong offensive outing against a direct competitor in the standings.
Yet the Sabres goalie wasn't willing to look in any direction but forward when breaking down the reality for a young team that still sits just four points out of a playoff spot.
"I don't know, we got a point last night and won the last game," Hutton said. "I understand it hasn't been perfectly clean by any means, but the game's wide open. I think you look across the league, it's a lot of high-scoring games. It's just the way the league's trending.
"… I think we're learning by fire here. We've got a bunch of young guys who are learning how to play tough hockey games. I think a lot of players in this room have never really been in a playoff hunt for a lot of years. So, you kind of learn as you go here in that sense.
"Obviously, there are things we need to clean up but a lot of things we can control. There's a lot of good things in our game as well."
Sabres coach Phil Housley had a similar message as the Sabres got back to addressing the checking errors that have hampered them of late. They managed to outshoot the Hurricanes, 39-30, but the mistakes they did make proved costly.
Housley said they reviewed the film of Carolina's goals to show exactly where defensive breakdowns were occurring.
"We're chasing guys behind the net, the guy that's not a threat," Housley said. "We're leaving the front of our net exposed, whether it's our D leaving or our wingers not coming back when its in that trapezoid, where we can protect that.
"We've got to tie up and box out better, especially the sticks. But a lot of it's just positional. It's not just all our D, it's a five-man unit out there communicating and getting things sorted out quickly because things happen fast."
At the other end of the spectrum, the Sabres have scored 13 goals in their last three games. They were able to establish a consistent presence in front of Hurricanes goalie Curtis McElhinney on Friday, another area Housley has stressed this season.
With that has come secondary scoring. Evan Rodrigues has six goals in eight games. Casey Mittelstadt has six points (1+5) in that same span, while Sam Reinhart has contributed back-to-back two-point efforts since being moved off the top line in search of more scoring balance.
"We've done a great job with the puck," Housley said. "And I've said it before, we're creating. We're getting enough chances. We out-chanced that team last night. We out-chanced Minnesota. The things that we're doing with the puck are good. I really like our shot mentality. I like that we're getting to zone one better. You can see two, maybe three guys in front of the net.
"… There are just critical mistakes that we can't afford to happen at this time. But we can continue to focus on the offensive side of our game. When the puck gets turned over, we've got to have a switch now and defend better."
