Loss is second nature to Sabres

Anyone have extra Ritalin? The Buffalo Sabres are suddenly stricken by attention deficit disorder. The Sabres had no problem starting their tasks this weekend. They swarmed the opponents, got the first goal, obtained the momentum. Then their focus . . . slowly . . . turned . . . to . . . "Hey, did that referee's arm go up? Wow, that guy just made a nice move. "OK, back to the game. Where were we? Up by one, right? "Whoa, we're down?" Yes, the Sabres are in fact down. They are winless in their last three games, the latest coming Saturday night with a 5-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators. For the second straight game, the Sabres dominated a foe during the opening period. Then they completely fell apart. This time, it was their old nemesis who made them pay. The Sabres watched a 1-0 lead and 17-5 shots advantage turn into a 5-1 deficit with a few mental lapses and trips to the penalty box. "It takes us a little while to get the brains turned on, and it's not good enough," Sabres forward Adam Mair said. "We need to find an answer for it, and fast." The Sabres held 1-0 leads and dominated the shot charts after 20 minutes Friday and Saturday. In the first game, their second-period brain freeze turned into a 2-1 overtime loss to Boston. In the second game, it turned into an ugly regulation setback. "It's a focus thing," defenseman Henrik Tallinder said. The focus now is how to rebound. The Sabres won three straight games a week ago, then went 0-2-1. For a while, it appeared their skid would stop at two. The Senators were taking a beating in front of 17,206 in Scotiabank Place. Then the Sabres went into the dressing room for the first intermission and forgot to come out. Tallinder was whistled for hooking with just 40 seconds gone. Filip Kuba scored from the point 10 seconds later. Daniel Alfredsson put the Senators in front, 2-1, midway through the second. The Sabres couldn't get momentum back because they took three penalties late, allowing Ottawa to take 14 of the 22 shots in the period. "We played a real good last 10 minutes of the first period, and we couldn't carry that momentum over," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "We took a couple penalties that we didn't have to take. It gave them a little bit of momentum, then they carried it from there." Any hope the Sabres had of tying the game in the third quickly disappeared. Chris Kelly, Milan Michalek and Alfredsson scored in the opening eight minutes, running Ottawa's record to 21-6-4 against Buffalo since 2005-06. "We were in a 2-1 Hockey game on the road going into the third period, and we did not get the desperate defensive play we needed," Mair said. "We can't wait for us to have our backs against the walls to be determined to go and play. We have to go out and set the tone ourselves." The fact they were able to do so well in the opening third of the game was somewhat surprising. The Sabres , when not at a disadvantage in numbers on the ice, were in terms of line matchups. Right wing Drew Stafford was unable to play after suffering a lower-body bone bruise Friday night, leaving Buffalo with 11 forwards. It forced Ruff to make wholesale line changes and use a defenseman at forward -- a defenseman who had never played the position in a game. Andrej Sekera dressed in Stafford's spot and skated at left wing on the line with center Matt Ellis and Mair. The Sabres also started a goaltender not named Ryan Miller for just the third time in 20 games. Patrick Lalime got his second start and stopped 21 of 26 shots, which sounds worse than it really was. "I don't think we even need to focus on goaltending," Ruff said. "I think the focus has to fall on our five-on-five play." The Sabres' first goal, by Thomas Vanek, came on the power play. They didn't score at even strength until Patrick Kaleta and Jason Pominville found the net with the game already decided. "The frustration with not scoring, that frustration leads to lack of focus," Ruff said. "The first period we played great. We played it to a tee. Some guys got frustrated by not scoring, then we missed some assignments that allowed for better opportunities." e-mail: jvogl@buffnews.com