Kevyn Adams paced back and forth behind the Buffalo Sabres’ bench, rolled up sheet of paper in one hand and pen in the other, eyes affixed on the play.

This wasn’t where Adams expected to be Thursday night, yet the latest crisis in this chaotic season for the Sabres forced the first-year general manager to trade a suite-level view in PPG Paints Arena for one at ice level as the team’s acting head coach.

“My philosophy is that you just take everything head on, you do your best, you be honest, you put your head down and do the work,” Adams said Thursday evening.” Some days have been extremely challenging, some days have just been challenging. So, it’s all part of it.”

What’s unfolded across the past three months, and 32 games, was not part of the plan, either. Playing amid a global pandemic that forced the National Hockey League to shorten and restructure its schedule, the Sabres have endured significant injuries, a Covid-19 outbreak that paused their season for two weeks, the midseason firing of former coach Ralph Krueger and a franchise-record winless streak that has Buffalo in position to miss the playoffs for a 10th consecutive season.

The latest calamitous event arrived Thursday with the news that interim coach Don Granato and interim assistant coach Matt Ellis were self-isolating in accordance with NHL Covid-19 protocols. Neither is symptomatic and both feel “great,” according to Adams.

Yet, Adams, who had not been an NHL coach since he was an assistant for the Sabres from 2011-13, was forced into the role hours before puck drop and presided over a 4-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins that stretched Buffalo’s winless streak to 16 games.

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