The Buffalo Sabres had an opportunity to build momentum for the first time this season.

Heading into Wednesday’s action, the Sabres were coming off back-to-back hard-fought victories over the Detroit Red Wings and Edmonton Oilers, and they were going up against a Calgary Flames team that was on the second half of back-to-back games and sit in last place in the NHL.

However, the Sabres found themselves down a pair of goals early and had to claw back in the second period to pull within a tie. The wheels then fell off in the third period, with Buffalo allowing four unanswered goals as Flames claimed a 6-2 win.

“I think we get a little too high on ourselves after a couple of wins; we think we’re better than we are instead of remembering what got us those wins,” star centre Tage Thompson told reporters after the game. “Looking back at the other game against Edmonton, I thought we were really hard to play against, I thought tonight we were really easy, really light on the puck. Anytime you’re doing that, you’re going to lose games.”

Frustrations are continuing to surface for a team that is trying to make their first playoff appearance since the 2010-11 campaign.

The team sits last in the Atlantic Division with a 7-9-4 record and have trouble stringing wins together, only achieving consecutive victories three times this season.

Buffalo has also had some trouble getting the offence going to start games this season, only recording the game’s first goal six times. On Wednesday, that was compounded with the fact that the Sabres were only able to get five shots on goal in the opening frame.

“I think our guys, some of the guys, wanted it easy. It wasn’t going to be easy tonight,” head coach Lindy Ruff said postgame. “We had the opportunity in that first 10 minutes really to just try to outwork the other team; we got outworked [instead], it’s as simple as that. I don’t think we respected them enough.”

The opportunities for the Sabres don’t get easier as they wrap up their four-game homestand with games against the Chicago Blackhawks and Carolina Hurricanes.

Chicago have won five of their past six games and feature a red-hot Connor Bedard who sits fourth in the NHL in scoring with 13 goals and 29 points and has 11 goals and 22 points in his past 11 games.

Meanwhile, Carolina sits at the top of the Metropolitan Division with a 13-5-2 record and are 6-2-2 in the month of November.