"Fire Don Granato" "Start boycotting games": Buffalo Sabres' crushing 9-4 defeat to Columbus Blue Jackets has fans demanding head coach be relieved

"Fire Don Granato" chants reverberated at the KeyBank Center following the Buffalo Sabres' humiliating home loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.

The atmosphere was demoralizing for the home crowd, and the arena was half-empty before the Blue Jackets thrashed the Sabres 9-4. The Sabres got off to a quick start with Rasmus Dahlin putting the home side up 1-0 in the early frame of the first period.

However, the Sabres could not build the momentum and found two steps behind the Blue Jackets in the remainder of the game. Fans had high hopes for the Sabres to break their playoff drought this time finally. However, given the Sabres' season, it appears to be another year without a game of playoff hockey.

The Buffalo Sabres are seventh in the Atlantic Division with 29 points, seven points clear of the bottom-placed Ottawa Senators.

The club's fan base has started to lose patience with coach Don Granato, as the defeat to the Metro's bottom-placed Blue Jackets had fans demanding the firing of the head coach.

Here's what fans had to say about Don Granato following the defeat on X, formerly Twitter. One tweeted:

"Fire Don Granato"

Another chimed in:

"It’s time to start boycotting games. Pegula doesn’t care unless it effects his checkbook"

Here are some more reactions on X:

Don Granato and the Buffalo Sabres are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games. They'll hope to improve that record when hosting rivals Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.

"Fire Don Granato" chants echo as Blue Jackets thrash Sabres at home

On Tuesday, the Columbus Blue Jackets traveled to the KeyBank Center to face the Buffalo Sabres. The home team fell short, losing by a huge scoreline of 9-4.

The first period of the game had five goals. With 30 seconds into the play, Rasmus Dahlin's goal was quick to put the Sabres up 1-0. At the halfway mark, Johnny Gaudreau put the Blue Jackets on board to tie the game 1-1.

Four minutes later, Adam Fantilli made it 2-1, before Kirill Marchenko's goal put the visiting team in a commanding position 3-1 before heading into the second period.

In the second period, fans were treated to a rain of goals, as a total of five strikes were recorded in the period. At the 7:37 mark, Marachenko scored his second goal of the night to make it 4-1. 20 seconds later, he completed his hat trick to extend the Blue Jackets' lead to 5-1.

Erik Gudbranson and Sean Kuraly were the other goal scorers for the Blue Jackets in the period. Meanwhile, with less than two minutes remaining before the final period, Kyle Okposo's goal cut the visitors' lead to 7-2.

The third period of the game had a showdown of four goals. Tage Thomson and Dylan Cozen's goals cut the lead to 7-4. However, goals from Cole Sillinger and Kent Johnson led the Blue Jackets to a comprehensive 9-4 away win.

Marchenko had a hat-trick while Gaudreau accumulated three points in the contest. Rookie Fantilli had two points while goalie Daniil Tarasov made 24 saves with a .857 SV% in the matchup for Columbus.