from Justin Bourne of The Score,

When everyone says your team is going to suck and you’re hoping to prove them wrong, getting outshot 131-57 and outscored 14-4 en route to a 0-3-0 start is kind of the opposite of what you need. Just sayin’.

The Buffalo Sabres were never going to be a playoff team this season, but there were certainly people who thought they’d be better than last year when they tallied 52 points, the lowest total in the NHL since 2000-01. I’m sure some of those people are in their dressing room.

In fairness, they still very well might. But something happens when you realize you’re on a trainwreck of a team that kills your chances of even looking respectable. Players understandably change their focus from “team” to “player.” That’s less than ideal three games into the season.

When you’re on a squad that’s not going to out-talent anyone, your best chance to hang is to play tight hockey as a unit. If you can at least rely on one another to be positionally sound - something that doesn’t take talent, just a functional thinking machine - you can minimize the damage against.

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