I was bored so I went back and looked at all the games the Sabres should have won, but had a breakdown for 3 minutes or so that have really changed the trajectory of this team. 8 games with a mental breakdown for 3 minutes or less have put this team from in the Wild Card to way out of the race. Its unfathomable how they couldn't scrape together a .500 record after being 1st in the NHL at one point a decent way into the season.
The games in question:
10/27 CBJ - gave up 2 goals in :35 sec
11/8 MTL - gave up 2 in 1:35
1/11 CAR - gave up 2 in 1:12
1/18 VAN gave up 3 in 3:19
2/19 FLA gave up 3 in 2:35
2/25 TOR gave up 3 in 2:04
3/1 PIT gave up 2 in 1:03 (Won this game in OT giving PIT an extra point)
3/4 EDM gave up 2 in 1:09 and 3 in 3:36
Notice a theme? Every team we are chasing right now is on that list. CBJ, PIT, MTL, CAR all gained atleast an extra point from us having the wheels fall off because they are the weakest team mentally I have ever watched.
The Sabres record if you take the breakdowns (which often came right after we took the lead) would fall at 37-21-8. Good for 82 points with 16 games left to play.
That would put them 3 back of Toronto for 3rd in the division(4 point swing not losing to them on 2/25). On top of that they would be even further ahead in the Wild Card because CBJ, CAR, and MTL would be 2 less points and PIT 1 less.
Theres a lot of blame to be passed around, but the coach and GM can only do so much with players who just completely fall apart at any sign of adversity. When you take the lead and immediately give up 2 or 3 goals in a short period of time that just comes down to focus and working harder than the other team.
Maybe we can win the lottery.
This is part of it
I created another thread in metrics with thus team that touched on blown leads and not having 2 goal leads and them being tied or behind by 1 and not getting g points.
There were some games where a late goal tied it and the other team wins in OT
Some games tied where team win it with about 8 or under minutes left get the winning goal.
There are a few games they had 2 goal leads and failed to get a point
Those have gone in all season. On top of that...
They went 2-7-2 in their last 11. If they went 7-2-2 in that stretch
they’d be tied for 8th.
Over those games they had Chicago, ( lead) , Edmonton and Toronto ( 3 goal brain freeze), Rangers, devils, Florida, flyers ( close 1 goal games in 3rd) . Get 10 extra points in those games.
