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Marcus Foligno of the Minnesota Wild threw shade at the Buffalo Sabres after his team lost 2-1 to the Utah Hockey Club on Friday night.
“We're fighting through it now. We're in a little bit of a sludge and just gotta go through it. It takes all of us to get ourselves out of it,” said Foligno via a post in X (formerly Twitter) by Joe Smith. “I mean, I'd rather be in this position than Buffalo. So, you know what, it's not that bad.”
The Sabres selected Marcus Foligno in the fourth round of the 2009 draft. He played his first six seasons in Buffalo before being traded to the Wild as a restricted free agent in 2017.
The Minnesota Wild has lost four of its last five games, all at home, after a strong 19-5-4 start to the season.
Marcus Foligno's former team the Buffalo Sabres continue to struggle
However, Foligno's former team is struggling even more. Buffalo sits 31st in the league with an 11-18-4 record, extending its losing streak to 12 games after Friday's 6-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Sabres have struggled to score during this skid, averaging just 2.25 goals per game, and having two goals called back against Toronto didn't help.
The first disallowed goal came early in the first period when Alex Tuch believed he'd tied the game at 1-1. It was ruled no goal after the linesman informed referees of a high-sticking double-minor by Jason Zucker earlier in the play.
Buffalo ended up on the penalty kill, and Auston Matthews extended the Leafs' lead with a power-play goal.
Later in the game, the Sabres seemed to pull within 5-4 late in the third period, but the Maple Leafs successfully challenged for goaltender interference.
Wild missing key personnel
The Wild were still missing five regulars, but they had Brock Faber on the blue line.
Faber left during the final minute of Wednesday's 6-1 loss to the Panthers after taking a shot to the right side of his neck. Initially struggling to breathe, he was taken to the hospital to ensure the swelling wouldn’t obstruct his airway. Faber mentioned he’s on medication, and though his voice remains raspy, it has improved; he compared it to having strep throat, minus the chills.
Injured goaltender Filip Gustavsson and forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Yakov Trenin skated Friday morning, but the Wild fielded the same lineup with one defensive change: Travis Dermott replaced Jon Merrill after being claimed off waivers from the Oilers a week prior. Travis Boyd, called up from the minors, was the only healthy scratch at forward.
After suffering a 2-1 loss to a dominant Utah Hockey Club on Friday at Xcel Energy Center, capping a tough homestand with their season-high third straight defeat, Marcus Foligno and the Wild will square off against the first-place Jets in Winnipeg on Saturday night.
