On the heels of blowing a three goal lead to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, the Buffalo Sabres hit home ice tonight against the Minnesota Wild. How would they respond?
In one word: poorly.
We may only be six games into the season, but I can picture Sabres everywhere already hitting the panic button. Following years of mediocre hockey, which then transitioned into "tank years," Buffalo fans were given hope after an enormous lineup overhaul. All summer long, dreams of playoff games danced in our heads. Acquisitions such as Ryan O'Reilly, Kyle Okposo, Evander Kane, Brian Gionta, Josh Gorges, Cody Franson, Zach Bogosian, Dmitry Kulikov, and Robin Lehner, combined with high draft picks such as Jack Eichel, Samson Reinhart, Zemgus Girgensons, Alex Nylander, and Rasmus Ristolainen, were supposed to be leading the team towards the promised land starting this season.