BUFFALO, N.Y. — Games like Wednesday’s make it difficult to take the Buffalo Sabres seriously as a potential playoff team.

A playoff team would have taken care of business against the Calgary Flames. The Flames entered this game in last place in the NHL, scoring the fewest goals per game in the league. They were playing the second half of a back-to-back after competing in Chicago on Tuesday night. And they had backup goalie Devin Cooley in net.

Despite that, the Flames beat the Sabres handily, skating out of Buffalo with a 6-2 win. Calgary jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period before the Sabres got goals from Mattias Samuelsson and Tage Thompson to even the score in the second period. But the Sabres collapsed in the third period, allowing four straight Flames goals to lose 6-2.

There were numerous familiar reasons for this loss. One was the inability to put together a complete, three-period effort. For the first and third periods, the Sabres gave the Flames way too much room to operate in the defensive zone. They lost puck battles and let the Flames get to the front of the net. They couldn’t win faceoffs or execute on the power play. And their puck management was sloppy all night.

“I think the main focus is we didn’t control things that were within our control tonight, and that’s puck battles and intensity,” Thompson said. “I just think we went into every one-on-one battle just casual, just soft.”

Like any team, the Sabres have moments when they look capable of turning a corner. But games like this one have become too common in the last few years. Just two weeks ago, they lost at home to the 30th-place St. Louis Blues, who were on the second half of a back-to-back. That should have been fresh enough to remind the Sabres about the danger of taking a team lightly. But after two convincing wins against tough opponents, the Sabres had the type of letdown that has become characteristic of this group.

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

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said he thought his team didn’t respect the opponent, but should have known the Flames would be desperate. Thompson took it a step further and said the team didn’t respect the game.

“I think it doesn’t matter who you’re playing. You can win on any given night, you can lose on any given night; it doesn’t matter who you line up across,” Thompson said. “I think it’s just a lack of respect for the game of hockey, thinking you’re just going to go out there casual and the puck’s just going to find you. It’s not the case.”

The Sabres came into the game last in the Eastern Conference. They should have been as desperate as the Flames while trying to make up lost ground in the standings. But that’s why Buffalo already has three winless streaks of three games or more. And the Sabres have not managed to string more than two wins together all season. That is a trait of an NHL bottom feeder, not a contender.

“There’s some good hockey,” Sabres alternate captain Mattias Samuelsson said. “There’s some games where we put it together and everybody’s rolling and you see the potential. And then there’s some games where maybe guys are just passengers or not enough guys pulling the same way. Tonight I thought it was a little discombobulated out there.”

That’s been the Sabres of the past few seasons in a nutshell. Ruff is in his second season of trying to coach this type of inconsistency out of this group, and he’s running out of ways to say the same things after games.

“I mean, as a group, there wasn’t a lot of players to like in the game,” Ruff said. “If you want to break down every goal, somebody got outmuscled somewhere, somebody got beat back up ice. Didn’t really see that coming.”

Quick hits

1. Rasmus Dahlin had an early goal called off due to goalie interference from Thompson. It was a ticky-tack call that Thompson called “horrible.” It didn’t end up mattering because the Sabres scored two goals to get the score even and entered the third period tied. That’s why Thompson didn’t want to dwell on one call in a game the Sabres handled so poorly in other areas.

2. Not many Sabres players had strong games Wednesday, but some key players hurt them. Alex Tuch didn’t register a single shot on goal at five-on-five. He finished the game with just 13 minutes of ice time at five-on-five, the fifth lowest among Buffalo’s forwards.

Owen Power was also noticeable for the wrong reasons. His net-front coverage continues to be an issue, and he’s not impacting the game nearly enough offensively. The Sabres have been out-scored 7-3 when Power is on the ice at five-on-five in the past five games. He was on the ice for two goals against. And Bowen Byram and Conor Timmins were on the ice for three goals against. The blue line has the potential to be the team’s strength, but consistency is a major issue outside of Samuelsson and Dahlin, who have played well together.

3. Noah Ostlund and Isak Rosen have put together a strong string of games in this latest call-up, but both players had more limited ice time against the Flames. Rosen failed to win a battle to the net on one of Calgary’s goals. He was on the ice for two goals against. As the Sabres get healthier, they’ll have to decide if they will be patient through the ups and downs with two rookies. Otherwise, Ostlund and Rosen could be heading back to Rochester.

4. Injury notes: Zach Benson skated with the Sabres during Wednesday’s morning skate. He should be back in the lineup soon, Ruff said. The coach also expects Jason Zucker, who hasn’t played since Nov. 1 because of an illness, to be available Friday when Buffalo hosts the Chicago Blackhawks.