Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-26-2019
First off, anyone who thinks some celluloid hero-type tough guy is gonna descend from the clouds and save the "damsel in distress" that is the Buffalo Sabres right now is sadly mistaken. It ain't gonna happen. If this team wants to move forward, they'll need to do so as constructed (at least near-term) with the players whose temperament fits the ideals of management and ultimately, ownership.
As we started to see last season when the Sabres 10-game win streak was stopped by the Tampa Bay Lightning, there's a rivalry brewing between the two clubs. Sure, right now it's like an uptown highbrow versus some riff raff from the projects, but the fact that the Lightning need to resort to dirty tactics against Buffalo at least that they feel somewhat threatened by the Sabres. Then again Tampa Bay just might have some highfalutin contemptuousness directed towards a Buffalo team, organization and city that couldn't be more of a polar-opposite from them.
Regardless of the reasons, the Lightning have laid two dirty hits on the Sabres in three games played so far this year with neither of them being called penalties on the ice. The first involved reigning Art Ross Trophy-winner Nikita Kucherov submarining fourth-line/reserve forward Vladimir Sobotka during the 2019 NHL Global Series. Never mind that it was obvious interference on the play, but Sobotka left the ice and is still out with a lower body injury.
The second occurred last night when Eric Cernak laid an elbow directly to defenseman Rasmus Dahlin's head causing a concussion. The Sabres were down a goal at the time and on the powerplay and the refs failed to call a penalty on the exact type of senseless, dirty head-shot the league has been trying to eliminate for years.
In the first case, it's not surprising that Kucherov didn't get a penalty. The game was a national showcase and Kucherov is a superstar who laid a hit on a plugger so a blind eye was turned. In the second instance Cernak took out a future superstar, the exact type of player the NHL is trying to protect in order to grow the game. It's inexcusable that he didn't receive at least a minor for elbowing on a play that deserved a minimum five-minute major.
Then again, it is the very successful Tampa Bay Lightning versus the not so successful Buffalo Sabres and just like in the NFL's anointed one, the New England Patriots, always gets the benefit of the doubt even when the evidence against them is clear, Tampa skated away unscathed in the game.
At least the NHL is looking into the Cernak hit and one should expect minimal disciplinary action which might go as high as a one-game suspension (which would also be a travesty.)
There's a lot to take into account here when it comes to the Sabres and these incidents. Everything from team-building to recent history to the not-so-great slide they've been in all contributed to the Lightning taking liberties, the Sabres not responding and the Rodney Dangerfield, "I don't get no respect" frame of mind engulfing Sabreland. ("I tell ya, every time I get into an elevator the operator asks, 'basement'? I tell ya, I don't get no respect.)
This lack of respect goes back to the Milan Lucic/Ryan Miller incident and the Sabres response as an organization was to hire a general manager who wanted to build a heavy, Western Conference team filled with big bodies. That didn't work out so well. He was fired and was replaced by present GM Jason Botterill and his idea of team-building is based upon speed and skill and there's no reason to believe he'll deviate from his plan. Nor should he.
Unfortunately this team has talent and speed and some skill but not enough to earn the respect of the teams they play against and they're also pretty soft right now, especially while in the throes of a 3-9-2 slide. They were even more susceptible to being bullied last night while playing the second game of a back-to-back to finish off a three-games-in-five-day road trip.
These Sabres are learning some hard lessons right now and they'll be learning them on their own. One of the lessons is that if they want to earn respect throughout the league, it's up to them. "It was definitely three difficult games against Tampa," said head coach Ralph Krueger to the media after their 5-2 loss last night. "They play hard and we have to still earn our position in the league."
Krueger handled the controversy surrounding Dahlin's concussion masterfully. He came out right away and said that his prize defenseman had a concussion, which lets the league know right away what the result of the hit was. Next he calmly refrained from judging the incident and deferred to the "neutral bodies" saying that he and the team were "emotionally connected to the situation."
Basically what Krueger did in front of the cameras was to kick this bullying incident up to the principal with as little fan fare as possible. Which is a good approach. The response from his team is a huge negative in every respect and it's best to move on from it, but hopefully one would think that Krueger's message in the locker room revolved around the players in the room right now standing up for each other.
That's how you earn respect around the league.
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