'It just wasn't good enough' | Sabres outworked in road loss to Red Wings

The Buffalo Sabres did not mince words after their 4-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
"For some reason, we didn't show up today and that's quite embarrassing, actually," defenseman Robert Hagg said.
The Sabres found themselves down 2-0 after the first period at Little Caesars Arena after the Red Wings scored twice on the power play and outshot the Sabres 22-6 in the opening period.

"They wanted to win the game more than we did from the drop of the puck," alternate captain Kyle Okposo said. "They came out and they wanted it. We never matched their intensity all night."

Buffalo is 5-9-4 on the road this season and 3-5-2 in their last 10 games overall. They sit in sixth place in the Atlantic Division, 11 points behind the fifth-place Red Wings.
"It was lethargic," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "You have to dig and fight harder than that. We're wearing it. That's what I said to the guys after. You've got to look in the mirror and it should be extremely disappointing to everybody in that room. …We expect better and we need better. We will push for better."

Buffalo was coming off one of its best performances of the season, a 4-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday. The Sabres put together a consistent road effort to earn two points. The positives and lessons learned from that game did not carry over.
"It was close to the opposite of what we saw in Nashville. It's certainly disappointing and there's no way possible to sugarcoat that," Granato said. "It just wasn't good enough from start to finish. As bad as it was, you go through two periods, the only two goals you give up were on the penalty kill. And you have a chance, if you have a good third period, to have a push. You're still in a game. And there was no push. Obviously disappointing from start to finish."
While the Sabres were down just two goals heading into the third, the Red Wings struck quickly to put the game out of reach.
On the rush after the period's opening faceoff, Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin skated in with rookie Lucas Raymond and Raymond redirected in a cross-ice feed to make it 3-0 just 13 seconds in.
"That was certainly a big goal for them, and it was a back breaker for us," Granato said. "You play the way we did through two periods, and you actually have a chance in the third. And you know that going into the third, it's only a 2-0 game. And you give up one [13] seconds in when you should be trying to push. That's disappointing."

Aaron Dell made 35 saves for Buffalo, while Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 22 shots to earn his first shutout of the season. Tyler Bertuzzi, Robby Fabbri and Michael Rasmussen also scored for the Red Wings.
Buffalo's power play finished 0-for-5. They had three power plays in the first 10 minutes of the second period, but could not capitalize on any of them. The Sabres posted just six shots while on the man advantage.
"We had problems all over the ice tonight," Hagg said. "It comes down to Detroit outworking us during the entire game. There's not much positive to bring out of this game, to be honest."

Buffalo will face Detroit again on Monday to complete the home-and-home set.
"That one's going to sting tonight and we better come out Monday and have a fire under us," Okposo said.
Faceoff is set for 1 p.m. on MSG and The Bet 1520 AM. Tickets are on sale now. Click here for a special Kids Day ticket offer.