Emotional loss
I've never seen Brian Campbell so emotional. He was struggling to hold back tears as he talked about the Sabres' 5-3 loss to Ottawa on Friday night. The pain was threefold:
1, For his team to come back from a 3-0 deficit and tie the top team in the Eastern Conference was an awesome accomplishment. Then, just like that, the good feeling was snatched away and the mood disintegrated with the loss.
2, He was on the ice for the last two goals, and he felt some blame.
3, The team that went to the last two Eastern Conference finals is in very real danger of missing the playoffs.
That's what hurt Campbell most. He knows nothing in hockey is more important than the Stanley Cup playoffs. He also knows every point lost in the beginning and middle of the year can't be made up at the end. Once the wins are lost, they're gone.
"We’ve got to win games here," Campbell said, his voice cracking. "It’s a dogfight to get in the playoffs, and you’ve got to start thinking about them now. I’ve been on this team for the two previous years before the lockout, and yeah you have a good second half, but where does that get you? It doesn’t get you too far. It doesn’t get you in the playoffs. It’s not easy to make up ground. We’ve got to be a desperate team, be accountable."
So where do the Sabres go from here? Are they playoff caliber, or, like Friday's game, are they going to come close and fall short?
---John Vogl
