‘It’s unacceptable’: Sabres vow a turnaround after third loss in three games
The Detroit Red Wings beat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-2, in an Atlantic Division game Friday at KeyBank Center.
Leave it to Rasmus Dahlin to offer a pointed assessment of the Buffalo Sabres, in the immediate wake of his team’s third loss in three games.
In particular, the Sabres captain had something to say in the wake of a 5-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Friday at KeyBank Center.
He chided his team’s response to the Red Wings’ quick start. Detroit scored three goals in the first 17 minutes, including a pair of power-play goals by Alex DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond, which helped Detroit take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.
Buffalo Sabres center Sam Carrick (10) moves the puck against Detroit Red Wings right wing Alex DeBrincat (93) and right wing Patrick Kane (88)
in the first period of their game at KeyBank Center on Friday, March 27, 2026. (Joed Viera/Buffalo News)
“It’s unacceptable,” Dahlin said. “They came out, really good, scored three early, and it’s hard to come back from that. We need better first periods, that’s for sure.”
The Red Wings looked like a team that was desperate to find a way into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as they began the day three points out of the last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, at 84 points, behind the New York Islanders (87) and Ottawa Senators (86).
The Sabres looked like they had two days prior in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Bruins, playing without the necessary pop through the course of an entire game, something that otherwise has helped them storm into the Eastern Conference’s playoff contenders.
In recent weeks, the Sabres have found ways to respond when down by a goal or two, but have also established their ability to protect their leads.
Of facing a deficit, Dahlin said, “You’ve got to take a little bit more of a risk, and we don’t like when we’re in that position. We’ve got to have a better first period. We can’t come out like we did today.”
The Sabres created scoring chances in the early minutes of the first, but Red Wings goalie John Gibson withstood them all. Then, the Red Wings capitalized on power plays, first when DeBrincat scored at 4:02 with Josh Norris penalized for high-sticking, and then when Raymond scored at 9:11 with Logan Stanley penalized for interference.
“When you get down by a couple, and you start chasing the game, it makes it hard, because teams this time of year are going to go into prevent (defense), make sure they have people back, and we left a lot of opportunities out there,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said.
Dahlin outlined what the Sabres need to do to, to establish their presence in the opening minutes.
“We’ve got to be stronger in front of our net,” Dahlin said. “Keep it a little bit simpler—next one mentality. Just simplify. Get the puck deep and stuff like that, in the first period, honestly.”
Those are tactical refinements. The Sabres also have to quickly make the psychological pivot. They host the Seattle Kraken at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at KeyBank Center.
“I honestly thought that we were going to come back,” Dahlin said. “That’s the mentality we have in this group. And we’ve just got to continue to have that.”
Not killing it
The Sabres’ penalty kill finished 4 for 6, including a third-period kill of a double-minor against Tage Thompson for high-sticking, but gave up the two first-period power-play goals.DeBrincat’s goal came five seconds into the penalty against Norris, when he picked up a rebound off Moritz Seider’s shot from the point and out of the reach of Sabres defenseman Conor Timmins, and beat Sabres goalie Alex Lyon (15 saves).
Raymond gave the Red Wings a 2-0 lead when he scored on a shot from the left circle after Ryan McLeod tried to clear the puck, but Detroit kept it in the zone.
“The first one, we gambled a little bit on coverage, right off the bat, and they threw it to the net, so it was more on us,” Ruff said.
Dahlin boiled down a solution.
“We’ve got to stay out of the box,” Dahlin said. “We know they have a good power play.”
Need a turnaround
This is the first time the Sabres have lost three consecutive games since Dec. 3-8, when they dropped road games at Philadelphia, Winnipeg and Calgary. That was nearly four months ago.Still, there’s not a lot of panic among the Sabres, even after the loss to the Red Wings.
“We’re in a good spot,” said Thompson, who scored his 400th point on a goal at 5:35 of the second period. “We play (Saturday), so just move on and get ready, and focus on that. And putting together a full 60 (minutes). Learn from tonight and move on.”
Now, the Sabres need less than 24 hours from Friday’s 7 p.m. faceoff to respond.
“It’s probably going to be a blessing, to some degree, to be playing again,” Lyon said. “It’s not fun to sit on games like that. We’re hitting a bump in the road right now, and we’re going to see what we’re made of, here. We need to put our foot on the gas and kind of reset and reassert ourselves.
“That’s what being successful this time of year is about.”
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