JOHN WAWROW
AP Hockey Writer
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The gloves are off in Buffalo now that coach Ted Nolan’s patience has run out waiting for his lethargic Sabres to start showing signs of a spark.
Nolan expressed his frustrations, including using a profanity in yelling at his team to “wake … up,” while putting his players through a grueling 90-minute practice Wednesday.
“Now is the time where taking it easy is over now,” Nolan said, noting that he had purposefully given the Sabres a 10-game grace period. “We’ve got to go work. I’ll take full responsibility for that. Maybe I didn’t push them hard enough. But today’s the day we have to start.”
The Sabres (2-8) could use the extra work a day after sleepwalking through a 4-0 loss at Toronto. Buffalo managed a franchise-worst 10 shots and was shut out for the fourth time in six games.
The lack of effort is what ate at Nolan, particularly after Buffalo was rested and coming off its best game, a 2-1 win at San Jose on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s very disturbing,” Nolan said of his team’s performance. “It’s mind-baffling.”
The expectations were already low in Buffalo entering this year. The rebuilding Sabres were coming off a season in which they finished last in the standings, lost a franchise-record 51 times and set a post-NHL-expansion era low by scoring 150 goals.
There are signs they could be even worse this year.
Not including shootouts, Buffalo has scored just 10 goals. According to STATS, that’s tied for the fourth fewest through the first 10 games of a season in NHL history, and fewest since the Chicago Blackhawks scored that many in 1936-37.
Nolan isn’t surprised by how low the Sabres offense has sunk.
“If we play the way we played last night, I’m quite sure we’ll break some more of those records,” he said. “If you’re not going to shoot, you’re not going to score. It’s pure and simple as that. … You can draw up all the fancy game plays that you want, but the want has to be there.”
Tyler Ennis leads Buffalo with three goals, while Zemgus Girgensons and Marcus Foligno have two each.
Matt Moulson, Drew Stafford and Cody Hodgson, who combined for 58 goals last season, have a goal and seven assists between them.
Moulson, a three-time 30-goal-scorer, had a difficult time coming up with a solution for Buffalo’s offensive woes.
“If it was an easy fix, it would be fixed by now,” he said.
Nolan is taking matters into his own hands by juggling the Sabres lines for Buffalo’s home game against Boston on Thursday.
The biggest switch involves Hodgson being demoted to the fourth line. And Nolan acknowledged he’s toying with the thought of having Hodgson sit out a game by saying: “He’s pretty close to there, too.”
NOTES: The Sabres are slightly ahead of last year’s record, when they got off to a 1-8-1 start. … Rookie first-round draft pick C Sam Reinhart is set to play against Boston. That will mark his ninth game, meaning the Sabres have to determine whether to return Reinhart to his Canadian Junior team in Kootenay, British Columbia, or have his rookie contract automatically kick in with his 10th NHL game. … Nolan said G Jhonas Enroth will start against Boston.
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