To answer your question, the Sabres did have a team meeting.
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Buffalo takes only 13 shots in 6-0 loss to Islanders
By TIM GRAHAM
News Sports Reporter
10/12/2003
Buffalo's Curtis Brown is checked into New York goalie Rick DiPietro, who earned the shutout.
The Buffalo Sabres had no shot.
OK, they had 13. But that wasn't enough to win. Not even close.
The Sabres fell flat on their faces in Saturday night's home opener, losing by 6-0 to the New York Islanders in HSBC Arena. They had only five shots through the first two periods.
The Sabres were booed loudly and frequently by the soldout HSBC Arena crowd.
"We deserved that, playing like we did," said Sabres captain Miroslav Satan.
Said coach Lindy Ruff: "That was something I didn't want to be a part of and something the fans didn't want to be a part of. They got excited when we got a shot. I got excited."
The Sabres started their season with back-to-back shutout losses for the first time in the franchise's 34-year history. It's the fourth time since the NHL expanded in 1967-68 a team has gone into its third game without a goal.
The Sabres, who opened the season with a 2-0 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, held a closed-door meeting for several minutes after Saturday's defeat. Two games into the season, that might be some sort of record.
"We've already had our first team meeting," defenseman Jay McKee said. "I've never been more embarrassed. This game as whole, you can't point the finger at one guy, two guys, three guys. It was just a mess. It was the worst game as a team that I've ever participated in."
The last time the Sabres lost by six goals was March 5, 1989.
Chris Drury led Buffalo with three shots. Daniel Briere, J.P. Dumont, Taylor Pyatt and Maxim Afinogenov didn't have any.
"I think it's not the fact that we lost the first two games," Briere said. "It's the way we lost. Tonight there's no excuses for that. It was embarrassing out there."
The Islanders were coming off a humbling 6-1 loss to start their season. Alexei Yashin and Mark Parrish scored two goals each for the Islanders, while Aaron Asham and Mariusz Czerkawski added the others. Old friend Michael Peca recorded his first point in nine games against his former team when he assisted on Parrish's second goal 5:18 into the third period.
Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro needed to make only a handful of saves for his first NHL shutout.
Sabres goalie Ryan Miller started again and made 18 saves. He looked steady through the first two periods. But in the Islanders scored four times on only six shots in the third period.
"I'm a little embarrassed right now," Miller said. "It's tough to swallow. I thought the first two periods they got some bounces on their two goals. Then the third period shows up. Ouch."
Miller, despite the score, still drew praise from Ruff and some of his teammates for not letting the Islanders score even more.
"I thought he made some key saves when the game was 1-0 or 2-0 to give us a chance to get back in the game," Ruff said. "You can't fault Ryan. What's the difference now if it was 1-0 or 10-0? He's played solid goal for us."
Ruff was clearly incensed about the performance and heaped much of the blame on himself. He faulted himself for not being able to find the right chemistry.
The seventh-year coach tried to jumble the lines throughout the game, but it didn't work.
"The more we tried to do things the worse it got," Ruff said. "It's your home opener. You make big mistakes and it snowballs. You make even bigger mistakes. Our guys that we need to produce haven't. Our meat-and-potato guys have done their job, but from an offensive standpoint we weren't good enough."
The Sabres thought they had scored a goal that would have tied the game with 3:40 left in the first period.
A pass from the corner by defenseman Andy Delmore glanced off center Chris Taylor's skate and into the net. The goal was immediately waved off, and the officials didn't change their minds after a video review of the play.
It was the closest Buffalo has come to scoring a goal through 120 minutes.
"It's real gut check time," defenseman James Patrick said. "It's going to be up to everyone to look in the mirror and see what he can do better."
