After losing just once through the first month of the season, the Winnipeg Jets are struggling to win.
Winning also hasn’t come easy for the Buffalo Sabres of late.
The Jets and Sabres each look to avoid a season-high fifth consecutive defeat when they meet Thursday night at Buffalo.
Winnipeg won 15 of 16 amid a historic franchise start. During that stretch, the Jets averaged 4.6 goals. Since then, they are 3-7-0, averaging 2.2 goals and posted one or none six times during that stretch.
“I don’t know if I can pinpoint it now,” Winnipeg star Mark Scheifele said of his team’s offensive issues. “I think it’s just a matter of wearing teams down. Obviously, everyone’s gunning for us and they know they got to play us hard. So, I think it’s just a matter of getting back to looking at the blueprint that we were doing earlier and just try to get back to that.”
On Tuesday, Winnipeg managed only Scheifele’s late goal while falling to 9-2-0 at home with a 4-1 loss to St. Louis.
“We need to be better as a group. That’s the biggest thing,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “We won all those games as a team and this isn’t going to change here. Everybody’s had a little bit of fault (with) these losses and now it’s a case of us sticking together and going on to the next game on the road here and finding a way to win that hockey game.”
Winnipeg has lost six times on the road, where they’ve dropped three straight while mired in a 3-6-0 rut. The Jets are also amid a stretch of playing 11 of 13 away from home.
While that’s proved to be somewhat daunting for the Jets, they have won three in a row and five of the last six trips to Buffalo, where the Sabres have dropped three straight and blew a 4-0 first-period lead during Tuesday’s 5-4 loss to Colorado.
With that disheartening defeat, Buffalo is 0-3-1 after winning seven of nine.
“We just need to be better,” said Sabres star Alex Tuch, who recorded his team-leading 23rd point with an assist against the Avalanche.
“Call (Tuesday’s loss) a learning experience. Honestly, just don’t forget how this feels. … We didn’t want to lose multiple games in a row, let alone four now.”
While Winnipeg is struggling to score, Buffalo has allowed 12 goals in the last three games, including nine in two at home. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who made 36 saves Tuesday, was in net for the Sabres’ last two at home. Meanwhile, current Sabres backup James Reimer has stopped 48 of 52 shots in his two starts since the club claimed him off waivers Nov. 13.
“We have a top-three team in Winnipeg (Thursday), we have to be ready for them,” Tuch added.
Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor is tied with Scheifele for the team lead with 13 goals, and he has six in 12 games versus Buffalo. However, he’s failed to score in his last six contests overall.
Teammate Connor Hellebuyck has allowed eight goals during his three-game losing streak. Backup and ex-Sabre Eric Comrie has a 3.04 goals-against average while 3-3-0.
Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin has been ruled out of Thursday’s game due to back spasms, head coach Lindy Ruff announced.
Dahlin, a defenseman, logged 17:16 of ice time before exiting Tuesday’s game.
“It should be short term, but you never know,” Ruff said.
Also on Thursday, the Sabres recalled defenseman Ryan Johnson from Rochester of the American Hockey League.
–Field Level Media
