Sabres coach Phil Housley: ‘There’s a lot of cheat in our game’

Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers score two goals each to help the Jets get a 7-4 win over the visiting Sabres.

Have the Buffalo Sabres hit rock bottom?

Tied with the Arizona Coyotes for the fewest wins in the NHL with 10, the Sabres put up a dud of an effort against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday, falling 7-4 in front of 17,398 at KeyBank Center.

Rookie head coach Phil Housley was rather displeased with his team’s defensive effort after the game.

“There’s a lot of cheat in our game,” Housley told Bill Hoppe of buffalohockeybeat.com. “I think they think that points are more important than playing solid defence and you can see the results that are coming.”

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Buffalo has given up three goals or more goals in eight straight contests, winning just once in that span.

A seventh straight season without a post-season game seems almost a certainty, with the Sabres on pace for just 55 points. For reference, the team finished 2014-15 with 54 points in a not-quite-hidden attempt at winning the Connor McDavid lottery.

But this year was supposed to be different, and the heightened expectations fans had coming into 2017-18 have only added to the disappointment of seeing the Sabres fall flat on their face once again.

“We … have (21) games left on home ice, we’ve got to take advantage, we’ve got to give our fans something to cheer about,” said Housley. “And if (it) requires us to win a 1-0 game, well then so be it. We’ll have to win a 1-0 game.

“But we’ll have to have more urgency in our defensive game.”

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