Improvements shown during preseason were absent in opening two losses to New Jersey
A pair of losses to open the 2024-25 regular season was not the start that the Buffalo Sabres were looking for, and it will be up to head coach Lindy Ruff to get the club back on track and not let a slow start snowball into something more impactful.
Last season, coming off a season where they missed the playoffs by a point and filled with optimism, the Sabres lost three of their first four games and remained a sub .500 club until March. In spite of some improvements defensively under Don Granato, the offensive firepower that saw Buffalo finished third in the NHL and top-10 on the power play in 2023 disappeared.
Although no conclusions should be drawn from two games against an opponent in New Jersey that is expected to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, the Sabres scored only one goal in each contest, went 0-for-6 on with the man advantage, and in the second game was limited to 18 shots on Devils backup Jake Allen.
“I think we're going to find out more about the group, dealing with adversity is something that can make your team a lot stronger and we're going to deal with some adversity," Ruff said on Saturday. "We're not happy, we've had some struggles we had some power play units that got changed around with Peterka going out and we didn't look very good on the power play again, so we've got a lot of work ahead of us."
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