BUFFALO — The Buffalo Sabres have been here before: winless to start the season and struggling to score. Their goal this time is to not let frustration set in and have history repeat itself.
“I’m a big believer that negativity breeds negativity, and that’s kind of how we’ve snowballed things in the past,” Sabres forward Tage Thompson said. “So, we can’t let three games be the end of the world, like I said. Obviously this [stinks]. No one wants to lose their first three games, but we’ve got an opportunity Wednesday (against the Ottawa Senators) to turn it around, and I think that’s all we’ve got to start doing: just look at the next game.
“Can’t keep looking back — last three games, last four seasons, last 14 seasons, whatever you want to do. We’ve just got to keep our sights set on what’s next.”
Buffalo is 0-3-0 to start this season and, after a 3-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Monday, has scored two goals in three games. Its power play has struggled, going 0-for-11.
It’s a repeat of last season, when the Sabres started with three straight losses, scoring three goals and also coming up empty on 11 tries with the man-advantage. They didn’t score their first power-play goal until Oct. 26.
The start “is not acceptable,” captain Rasmus Dahlin said.
“It’s not good enough, a lot of the areas,” he said. “Better start today, worse ending. Not good on the power play, good [penalty kill], goaltending. I mean, we can’t catch a break there. We’ve got to get out of this [nonsense].”
