BUFFALO — With Sunday night’s 3-1 loss to the Bruins, the Sabres are a lackluster 5-7-1, a resounding thud after a late-season charge in 2011-12 left them within a stick length of reaching the playoffs. Impatient Sabres fans, who haven’t seen their charges advance beyond the first round of the postseason since 2006-07, now wonder what has happened to fourth-year blue liner Tyler Myers.

The 6-foot-8-inch Myers, the NHL’s rookie of the year in June 2010, was scratched (coach’s decision) Saturday night on Long Island, and again on Sunday. Once considered one of the league’s more promising talents, his game this season has been a shambles, both on offense and defense. He stands a team-worst minus-9.