Buffalo Boy's Blog

Up 3-1 with minutes to go in the third period this one should have been locked up. Instead, I watched in disbelief as this team choked away a two goal lead and allowed this thing to go to overtime and eventually a shootout.

The worst team in the league, the New York Islanders came back from two goals down in our home building. I'm not putting down the Islanders as much as I am the Sabres. Who are these guys? They obviously are not that good.

On home ice a two goal lead with minutes to go in the third period against a bad team should be a given. Lock it down and win it in regulation. Instead, they coughed it up. Gave up a point to a bad Islander team and were lucky at best to come up with 2 points.

This wasn't a pretty win by any means, it was ugly. Even when they were winning they had their moments when it didn't look overwhelmingly good.

Coughing up leads, losing close one goal games and more importantly, having a record at home just one or two games over .500 means that this team is not a playoff team. They don't belong in the top 8 in the Eastern Conference.

Some bright spots: Jochen Hecht and Jason Pominville look like they might be starting to come out of their respective slumps.

After a game like today though Im not taking anything for granted. They have to start playing a full 60 minutes before this thing is over. There have been too many lapses and weak play in their own zone in key situations. No matter what the result of tonight, this is still a mediocre team at best until they prove they can win at home and protect leads late in games.

Christmas is over, I predict some changes via trades are on the way.