The Buffalo Sabres believed they began to find some answers after starting the season 1-4-1, winning three straight games and getting back to .500, but just as quickly as the club seemingly righted the ship, they began to take on water once again with a trio of losses to Florida, the NY Islanders, and a 2-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday.

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Following a streak of five straight games scoring four or more goals, the Sabres offense has dried up during their losing skid, with just five goals in three games. In Saturday’s defeat, head coach Lindy Ruff singled out the special teams.

“Our power play didn’t get it done, and a failed clear led to one (Detroit) goal, and (it was) tough coverage on the second one,” Ruff said.

Related: Sabres Slow Start Due To Slumping Special Teams

Buffalo went 0 for 2 with the man advantage, lowering their success rate to 8.6% (32nd in the NHL), which is a continuation of their struggles going back to last season, when they finished 29^th in the league. Both Detroit goals by Dylan Larkin were scored on the power play, lowering the Sabres to 27^th in the NHL with a 71.8% success rate.

After the loss to the Islanders, Ruff chose to sit Connor Clifton (who was burned on Maxim Tsyplakov’s second-period goal) and Nicolas Aube-Kubel in favor of Jacob Bryson and Jiri Kulich and shakeup his lines and defensive pairings, but without a positive result.

The loss has Buffalo just one point ahead of the NHL's last-place San Jose Sharks and they continue to search for answers before their next home game against Ottawa on Tuesday.

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