Ralph Krueger believes his Buffalo Sabres are dealing with a crisis of confidence.
The head coach said it was evident in a 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals on Thursday.
"One of my biggest takes out of that game was the fragile psychological state of the team right now," Krueger told the Buffalo News' Mike Harrington on Friday. "And (the importance of) managing that properly so that there is an edge, but that the edge doesn't go over to being too tight - which is exactly what is our biggest enemy at the moment. Everybody's trying to play within the right principles, they're trying to execute properly and almost squeezing our sticks too hard.
"They're fragile right now," he added. "They don't believe in themselves and they don't see themselves celebrating; they see themselves missing the net, hitting the shaft of the goalie, not finding the hole between the legs that they usually find."
Buffalo entered Friday's action ranking near the bottom of the league with a 4-7-2 record. The Sabres did not play at all in the first two weeks of February due to postponements after many of their players landed on the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list and Krueger tested positive. However, Buffalo has lost three straight games since resuming play, scoring only two goals combined in those defeats - both coming on the power play.
Before Friday's games, the Sabres ranked last in the league in goals for percentage at 35.71, but sat 13th in expected goals percentage with a favorable rate of 51.51, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The team's best players have been largely unlucky to begin the season. Jack Eichel has produced 12 points but only two goals in 13 games and has authored a 4.5 shooting percentage. That's well below his average of 10.8 from previous campaigns. Taylor Hall has collected only a goal to go along with his eight assists in 13 contests while shooting at just a 3% clip, down from his average of 10.4 in past seasons.
