'Unacceptable' mistakes on penalty kill drop Sabres to last in Atlantic Division
Buffalo is now tied for last place in the Atlantic Division with nine points.
A number of Sabres forwards were standing around the Red Wings’ net as JJ Peterka snapped a low shot to try to score the tying goal late in the third period Saturday night.
Cam Talbot, the Red Wings’ 37-year-old goalie, made the save and didn’t allow a rebound. Head coach Lindy Ruff immediately called a timeout and kept an extra attacker on the ice in place of his goalie, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Seth Appert, one of the team’s assistant coaches, drew a play on a whiteboard for the six Sabres who were tasked with trying to beat Talbot.
The strategy produced one more shot on goal, Alex Tuch’s slap shot from 50 feet away, but the Sabres were unable to break through as they dropped their third game in a row with a 2-1 loss in Little Caesars Arena.
“The puck was right around the net there a couple times, even late,” Ruff said after the Sabres fell to 4-7-1. “We just didn’t get the job done.
Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stops a shot by Red Wings center Michael Rasmussen during the third period of Saturday's game in Detroit. Lance Lysowski
The Sabres outshot the Red Wings, 13-7, during the third period and 32-23 overall. The push to tie it 2-2 in the final minutes included a few notable scoring chances – including a shot from the slot by Tage Thompson – but Buffalo has scored twice at 5-on-5 in its last three games and is now tied for last place in the Atlantic Division with nine points.
Special teams were the issue again in Detroit. The power play went 0-for-2, snapping a three-game goal streak, and the penalty kill allowed two goals during an ugly second period for the Sabres.
Mattias Samuelsson failed to clear the puck before Dylan Larkin’s first goal, an odd-angle shot 7:49 into the middle frame, and neither Jordan Greenway nor Dylan Cozens were in position to prevent Larkin from scoring his second goal from in front of Luukkonen, who made 21 saves in the loss.
The Sabres’ power play and penalty kill rank 31st and 28th in the NHL, respectively. The latter is a startling regression from last season, when Buffalo improved to 13th.
“A negative is our PK gives up two goals and that ends up winning them the game,” said Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram. “That’s unacceptable. At the end of the day, whenever you lose a few in a row you’ve got to regroup, learn from it, move on from it and get ready to go again.”
Ruff didn’t give a speech to his team after its mistake-filled 4-3 loss to the New York Islanders on Friday night. His players knew what they did wrong, and dwelling on those mistakes could be counterproductive in the second game of a back-to-back, so he only spoke to them about the challenge of stopping the Red Wings (5-5-1).
The Sabres responded with a first period that included four high-danger scoring chances at 5-on-5, beginning with Beck Malenstyn nearly scoring on a rebound less than a minute into the game, and they drew two penalties. The power play had only three shots on goal in those four minutes, though, and they began to allow too many odd man rushes in the second period.
Natural Stat Trick credited the Red Wings with eight high-danger scoring chances at 5-on-5 during the second period, and the Sabres had only one across the final 40 minutes of regulation. Tuch, Thompson and Peterka combined for 11 shots on goal, but this team needs more offensively from players like Cozens, Jack Quinn and Ryan McLeod.
The individual mistakes hold this team back. They’re committing too many penalties, turning the puck over too often, unnecessarily icing the puck and finding themselves out of position on special teams. These Sabres haven’t been able to outscore their mistakes like they did two seasons ago.
“I really want to see the stats behind this game,” said Rasmus Dahlin. “We should have scored way more goals than we did. Their goalie had a really good game.”
Sabres left wing Jordan Greenway has his shot stopped by Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot during the second period of Saturday's game. Duane Burleson, Associated Press
1. Changing up
Dahlin and Byram may be the Sabres’ new top pair on defense.The Sabres had 78% of the shot attempts and outshot the Red Wings 15-15 at 5-on-5 when the duo was on the ice, according to Natural Stat Trick. Dahlin had four shots on goal and 13 shot attempts in a team-high 27:33 of ice time. He almost scored in the second period when Greenway skated around the back of the net and found him with a centering pass, but Dahlin’s shot hit Talbot’s stick.
Byram skated 24:24 and the Sabres had 12 scoring chances when he was on the ice.
“It’s a lot of fun playing with him,” said Byram. “Everyone knows what type of player he is, so it makes it really simple on myself. I try to get him the puck and get open when I can. I feel like we created some good looks in the offensive zone, and we’ll continue to work on it and grow as a pair.”
2. Denied
Larkin was reminded that it’s a bad idea to try to skate by Tuch in the neutral zone.The Sabres winger used his reach to strip Larkin of the puck, then Tuch skated in for a short-handed breakaway and scored on a quick shot for the 1-0 lead. Tuch’s 92 takeaways since the start of last season rank second in the NHL behind the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin (93).
Tuch created similar opportunities in recent games, but he hasn’t been able to finish. His impact on the forecheck gives his line more time in the offensive zone and he uses that skill on the penalty kill to pressure opponents into mistakes. Tuch has four goals and 10 points in 12 games to start the season.
3. Searching
Ruff shuffled the lines again to try to find four effective groups.Jason Zucker started with Thompson and Tuch. Peterka was reunited with Cozens and Quinn. McLeod centered Greenway and Jiri Kulich. Three of the four lines were different at the start of the third period. Peterka made an impact as soon as he was back on the top line, as the winger finished with four shots on goal and nearly scored with 1:59 left in regulation.
The Sabres need a top-six forward. Quinn has one goal in 11 games. Cozens is playing better than the production would suggest, but he isn’t getting help from his linemates. General manager Kevyn Adams needs to add, but early-season trades are rare in the NHL.
"We have, obviously, a really young team, and it's not gonna happen overnight, but you're striving for consistency and sometimes you can't look at the result," said Byram. "We're in a three-game slide here, but I think we've played some decent hockey throughout it. We've got to continue to build and stay positive."
4. Lineup changes
Wanting “fresh legs” for the second game of a back-to-back, Ruff scratched defenseman Connor Clifton and winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel.Jacob Bryson made his season debut on defense, and Kulich drew into the lineup after he was a healthy scratch the previous two games. The changes didn’t make a difference, though Kulich made some promising plays, but this was one of the better showings by Buffalo in the second game of a back-to-back.
The Sabres are 3-12 in the second game of a back-to-back since the start of last season, earning only six of a possible 24 standings points.
"In terms of back-to-backs, since I’ve been here that’s the best one we’ve played," Byram added.
