(WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres have been hit with another injury. Lindy Ruff was on WGR Sports Radio 550 on Tuesday morning and told “Jeremy and Joe” that Jason Zucker is going to miss some time. Zucker went awkwardly into the boards and limped to the dressing room. He did return to the bench, but Ruff said,

“He missed some time and came back and played, but the initial view from our crew after the game is he will miss some time.”

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Noah Ostlund gets recalled from the Rochester Americans.

After the Sabres 7-4 loss in Calgary on Monday, I decided to go to bed and sleep on what I wanted to say about it. As I sit here now, nothing has changed in my mind. Only two teams in the national Hockey League are worse than the Buffalo Sabres this year.

This team is on a three-game losing streak and has lost 5-of-7. In their last 21 games they have won seven. That’s a points percentage of .429. They are the most pathetic team in the NHL on the road going 2-9-2.

Terry Pegula can’t put the fans through this any longer. This is a hockey team that hasn’t even won three games in a row yet this season and it’s Dec. 9.

We all know that Kevyn Adams should no longer be here. The only one that hasn’t figured it out yet is the owner. Since being hired the Sabres are 175-196-42. That’s a points percentage of .475 which is 26th in the NHL. The team now is worse than when he got the job on June 16, 2020. This season the points percentage is .448. Only the Nashville Predators at .429 and the Vancouver Canucks at .417 are worse.

Pegula sees a game or two where the team plays well and gets mesmerized by it and what Adams tells him. All Adams and Lindy Ruff talked about from April until now is how the team has to get better defensively. That’s been an utter embarrassment as the goals against is 3.55 which is 30th in the NHL.

Lindy Ruff has coached this team for 111 games. He’s 47-53-11 which is a points percentage of .473. That’s 29th in the NHL. Under Ruff the goals against is 3.51. Only the San Jose Sharks are worse at 3.64.

Owen Power is a first overall pick and Bo Byram is a fourth overall pick. Both have regressed badly under Ruff. As much as fans love him in Buffalo, the fact is this just isn’t working. Ruff has coached a long time and there are things he’s done in his career that have worked well for him. They aren’t working here and the players for whatever reason are not grasping or are refusing to grasp the message.

Brining back Kevyn Adams and the full coaching staff with no additions or subtractions has proven to be a huge mistake.

What needs to be done is so obvious to everyone around the NHL except for Pegula. Players around this league laugh at this organization. I’ve seen it and heard the comments first hand.

The Sabres have the second half of a back-to-back in Edmonton on Tuesday. Buffalo did show it’s quite capable of playing a good brand of hockey as on Nov. 17 in Buffalo, they totally shutdown Connor McDavid in a 5-1 win. Colten Ellis was steady in net and made the big saves when he had to stopping 32-of-33 shots. With both Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Alex Lyon playing in Calgary, I would expect to see Ellis on Tuesday.

Sleeping on the Calgary game didn’t change my mind. Every time the Sabres mustered up a good effort to get to within one goal of the Flames, they immediately handed it back to Calgary.

Trailing 2-0 in the second period, Tage Thompson scored at 4:24 to make it 2-1. At 5:02 and 6:54 Beck Malenstyn and Jordan Greenway took penalties and just as the 5-on-3 became a 5-on-4 at 7:05, Jonathan Huberdeau made it 3-1.

Buffalo caught Calgary in a shift that lasted almost 2:30 and Power took advantage using a screen for his first goal in 14 games. It only took Power 31 seconds to get back to his old self as he was totally oblivious to the fact that Nazem Kadri had gotten behind him and he went in alone to score.

Josh Norris made a nice move to start a rush getting the puck up to Josh Doan. Rasmus Dahlin had a perfect read joining the play and Doan gave him a perfect pass for his first goal in 15 games.

But don’t panic, the Sabres gave it right back 55 seconds later when Dahlin fell behind the net allowing Blake Coleman to bring the puck right to the crease. Luukkonen stopped Coleman, but nobody picked up Yan Kuznetsov in front and the two goal lead was restored.

Buffalo got a late power play and Ruff pulled Lyon who had replaced Luukkonen to start the third period and Alex Tuch tipped in Dahlin’s shot for a 6-on-4 power play goal.

Just 43 seconds after Tuch pulled the Sabres to within one, Calgary hit for two empty net goals and a 7-4 win. Buffalo leads the NHL with 12 empty net goals against and haven’t scored 6-on-5. Last year Buffalo led the NHL with 25 empty net goals against. I’ve been at this a long time and I have never seen a team as bad at 6-on-5 as this one. They don’t compete, they don’t battle and it’s always in the back of their net.

It’s not good if you give up one goal immediately after scoring, but the Sabres did it four times in one game. The mindless mistakes are taking over their game as they just look shot mentally. I don’t understand how the owner doesn’t see it. This is not going to get better until he takes action.

Edmonton comes into Tuesday’s game with three wins in four games and five wins in seven. With a .534 points percentage, the Oilers hold down the first Wild Card spot in the West. Overall they’re 22nd.

Edmonton is 33.3% on the power play which leads the NHL. Buffalo has slipped on the penalty kill, only killing seven of their last 11. The Sabres are third in the NHL at 85.5%.

McDavid is third in scoring with 42 points in 29 games. His 28 assists lead the league. Leon Draisaitl is seventh in league goal scoring with 17. He’s ninth with 37 points.

Join Brian Koziol and me at 8:00 for pregame.