Robin Lehner has never been one to hold back his emotions and following the Buffalo Sabres 4-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks, the Sabres goaltender ripped his team’s effort.
Speaking with Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News, Lehner called out his teammates for acting like Chicago, when they “haven’t done anything in this league.”
“We haven’t done anything,” Lehner told Harrington after the loss. “We win one game and we think we’re Chicago … We haven’t done anything in this league. (Gionta) has won a Cup. All respect to him, he’s done something. The rest of us haven’t.”
Lehner’s frustrations are more than understandable. He’s been excellent for the consistently-.500 Sabres, posting a .923 save percentage and a 2.57 goals against average, against a 14-16-6 record. The 25-year-old has kept Buffalo in many close games. If the team in front of him gets big-headed over a single win, he’s right to express concerns if they played lax the following game.
The Sabres haven’t done anything. They’re a mediocre team. Lehner is being brash with his comments, but he’s 100% right. In order to take the next step in their rebuild, Buffalo’s got to bring it on a consistent basis, win or lose. If they act like they’ve been there before, when they haven’t, they’re setting themselves up for immediate failure.
