BUFFALO, N.Y. — With a win over the Islanders at home last Tuesday, the Sabres had won back-to-back games for the first time since mid-December.
Buffalo has now lost three straight games, after their 7-3 loss in Columbus, their worst showing in the middle of their skid.
"I think our defensive habits were poor, to put it kindly," Sabres alternate captain Kyle Okposo said after the game. "We just weren't good defensively. We were swinging everywhere. Our attention to detail was not good, and that's where we lost the game."'
Okposo was visibly disappointed after the game.
"We were doing things that were uncharacteristic for our team. Defensively just not paying attention to the details and right up to the last goal... that one stinks," he said.
"It's not like we didn't work hard. We worked plenty hard. We were just not mentally where we need to be to play that game. Yeah, it's game 51, but that's no excuse. We should be getting better and getting sharper in those details mentally throughout the season. That one wasn't good enough."
That game in Columbus was the first of five straight on the road.
Buffalo is in Montreal on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
The road trip then continues in St. Louis, Dallas, and Toronto before the Sabres turn home Friday, March 4 hosting the Minnesota Wild.
That game kicks off a four-game homestand that ends with the Vegas Golden Knights coming to KeyBank Center on March 10, with former Sabres captain Jack Eichel back from injury for Vegas.
