“We Have To Dig Deep” | Buffalo Sabres Forward Jeff Skinner After Loss To St. Louis Blues

“We Have To Dig Deep” | Buffalo Sabres Forward Jeff Skinner After Loss To St. Louis Blues

You’re getting the volume you’re getting some Zone time why are you guys not able I mean that’s two games in a row where you’ve only had one goal why are you guys not able to cash in more uh I mean I think there’s one easy answer probably to fix it but I just

It’s the way it’s going for us um I think we can obviously do more and um trying to get into the inside and and get some Second Chance opportunities um yeah I mean I think even you look at the goal today is kind of a greasy goal

They they put it in so um seemed like we kind of felt like we were going to get a bounce and we were going to maybe get an easy one but that’s just not the way it’s going for us right now so we just

Have to sort of dig deep and and find a way to get ugly ones until till things start start feeling better for ourselves you know for the most part Jeff for the last six weeks your team defense has has been really good what’s the key to

Pairing to not only doing that but also getting back to being the offensive team you guys know you can be uh I mean there I think a lot of stuff that goes into it I think that obviously it’s it’s there’s been some good uh good strides over the

Last few weeks so sort of the way we played defense um but I mean other teams are playing playing good D too so I think it’s it’s just it’s just a matter of picking things that are are good in our game and trying to do more of them I think we

Just haven’t found uh enough consistency with some of the good things in our game and um as a result we kind of are playing in spurts and I think we we play better when we sort of have sustained pressure and and can kind of sustain some momentum for a periods of time are

Are you pressing at times cuz the Puck’s not going in for you at this time I don’t know uh pressing I just you trying to score I think obviously it’s it’s not going in and um that’s part of part of my job is to produce offensively and I think last

Little while it’s been a bit a little tougher um but yeah I just have to stick with it um and and and try and break out of it over the same you know six weeks that Lance talked about there are days when the power play is back to working

And really clicking and there are days like today where it really stalls out what goes wrong when there’s just lapses in the puck movement like today I mean I think I mean other team’s trying to kill the penalty they they get in the lane and maybe we try and force a

Play that’s not there when we’re pressing I I mean every play is different every PP is different I think um yeah it’s something we struggle with all year to try and get into a rhythm and um yeah it’s something we just continue to work at it’s it’s it’s not

Going to be easy it’s not going to sort of we’re not going to fix one thing and all of a sudden we’re going to start snapping around every Power playes it’s one of those things that every time we get a PP we get an opportunity we have

To try and make something positive come out of it um I think at times we can do a better job of of giving ourselves those opportunity um um maybe drawing some more and getting some more some more looks but I mean I think once we

Get on the pp we just have to focus on continue to improve on things Jeff does the team get a little hardheaded when it comes to Zone entries and not wanting to dump the puck and wanting to carry in or is that just kind of you get behind and

You’re just kind of trying to force things uh I don’t know I I feel like that kind of thing is he’s like a Hot Topic because of analytics and stuff but at the end of the day you have to make a read on on what’s in front of you

And if they’re backing up and their D have have have a pretty good uh step on you you dump it in it’s they’re just going to get it and and break out so I think every time those things happen you have to make a read um so it’s hard

Really to I mean obviously in general we’re not doing a good enough job of getting in the zone and and sustaining pressure and having all his own time so that could be part of it um but it’s hard to really sort of single out one thing like that last season you guys had

An identity as a team it was very clear what you needed to do how you were going to play if you’re going to win and you feel like that maybe has gotten lost this year as you’ve tried to take that step and become maybe a more mature group defensively that you’ve lost what

Really makes you you know as dangerous as you guys were on a consistent basis last year yeah may maybe I mean I think know people talk about identity it’s sort of a team that’s consist consistently playing the same way or and and again we’ve we’ve struggled with consistency as a

Whole feels like for for a while so um but I mean that’s going to happen when things aren’t going well your way I think when when things are clicking guys are feeling good it looks like everyone’s doing doing the right thing and and on the same page and um for us

We just haven’t had that enough um we’re going to keep working at it and keep trying to get on on the same page and and get back to to sort of that Identity or that consistency and and uh but again it’s same thing as the power play I

Think you can’t just sort of flip a switch and all of a sudden next game we’re just going to have a great game all 60 minutes it’s it’s going to be it’s got to be a sort of a a concerted effort by by everyone Jeff Jeff I’m not referring specifically to

You but is overall confidence an issue uh I mean I mean you can speak to me but uh no I mean I I mean I guess it’s an individual kind of question I think it you go through ups and downs throughout the season you got

Times when guys are sort of I mean today Oki Oki kicked it up and they put it in for us so I think it’s not like we’re getting we’re not getting bounces we got to bounce there um I think Tom did a great job kind of creating it but it’s

It’s just part of the part of the season part of part of playing pro sports you’re going to go through ups and downs and whether whether you look at that in a down time and say oh you don’t have confidence I mean maybe but you got to

Find a way to get out of it and sooner or later we’ll get out of it and we’ll have we’ll have more conf confidence and then guys will feel feel good about themselves and we’ll start to um things will start to click and and it’s just a

Matter of right now trying to find that and get out of it quick situation you know one goal three games in a row here do you guys sense you’re Preston in this building you get a lot more offense on the road in general maybe I mean it’s I

Mean yeah it’s not good enough obviously I think five on five we can do better too obvious see the pp’s been been a big big topic but um I don’t think we got a five and five last game and then today we got the we got the the one

So I don’t know it’s it’s it’s two games at home I mean maybe if one or two goes in we start to feel good and and and we don’t have that conversation but the fact is is we’ve had a couple tough games offensively and there’s no one reason we just have

To find a way to get out of it than

Buffalo Sabres forward Jeff Skinner spoke to the media after the team’s 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on February 10, 2024. He talked about the need to get to the net, the need for consistency, and more.

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