Not yet time for panic

If you listen to the comments on the Buffalo News and other Sabres-related hockey sites, three losses and the Sabres might as well concede their season now.

Granted, the last three – a Ryan Miller meltdown against Florida, a close heartbreaking loss against division opponent and last year’s Northeast champion Boston Bruins, and a pasting at the hands of the rival Senators – have been ugly. Right on the heels of impressive back to back wins against Calgary and Philadelphia, the Sabres dropped an easy three games, posting a season-high losing streak.

But it’s not yet time to throw in the towel, as much as their play as of late is all-too-reminiscent of the debacles of the past two years.

For your consideration:

– The Sabres have been hit with a few key injuries (Grier and Stafford) the past few games. While it’s easy to measure those losses as strictly the loss of the player, you also have to consider that losing a few players results in juggling lines that were playing productively together. Mess with one line, you start disrupting a good team dynamic. It’s why I’ve always been more in favor of calling up plug-ins in lieu of line-juggling, much like Regier’s unusually smart move in calling up Ennis to replace Stafford against Philadelphia.

– A three game losing streak, while ugly, is not the end of the world. Start getting worried if it extends to more than that.

That said, there are some worrying trends. I’ve long thought Patty Lalime was overly maligned in Buffalo — as one guy on the Hockeybuzz forum put it, Sabres fans won’t be happy till Luongo is backing up Miller. His stats aren’t truly indicative of his play — while the former All-Star and Sens record holder isn’t what he once was, when you’re starting sporadically and the guys in front of you are used to having their goaltender pull their butts out of the frying pan when they screw up, you’re a tailor-made scapegoat. Who would want to play second-fiddle to a goaltender that seems on his way to becoming a perennial All-Star and Olympian?

• Easy solution to Lalime letting in the puck: Don’t give up an absurd amount of quality scoring chances. Yeah, I’m looking at you, Derek “I can’t go a period without 20 turnovers” Roy. I don’t care if you put the puck in the net; as many goals against can be traced to your mistakes. Start earning your salary.
• Easy solution to Lalime letting in the puck: Stop taking bad penalties. After a good start, Kennedy’s bad penalties are wearing thin. Playing with grit doesn’t mean you have to take bad penalties — even if it’s killed off, it saps the offensive momentum the Sabres so desperately need to build up to win.
• Easy solution to Lalime letting in the puck: Learn to backcheck. The top two lines need to play defensively responsible hockey, and they need to start doing it now. Vanek and Roy are the two biggest offenders here; Pominville needs work, but he shows some good signs of unselfish play in his own end every now and then. Roy should at least have the decency to cover up his mistakes when he coughs up the puck instead of relying on the guy between the pipes to do it for him.

Don’t expect a guy that starts sporadically to bail out a team that isn’t playing well enough to deserve winning.

The Sabres are up Wednesday in Washington against the powerhouse conference-leading Washington Capitals, a team I can’t help but appreciate.

Want to send a message that you’re not the team of the last two years? Shut down this losing streak before it gets out of hand, and do it by showing that you’re capable of shutting down the league’s elite. You’ve done it before, and this time, you’re not playing to end with 82 games and nothing to show for it.

Time to step up.

- C.