Luukkonen makes 21 saves but Sabres unable to generate anything vs. Ducks

The highlight everyone will be talking about from the Buffalo Sabres' 2-0 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday happened early in the second period.
Ducks rookie forward Trevor Zegras stood behind the Sabres net and picked the puck up on the blade of his stick. He then saw linemate Sonny Milano call for it in front and then flipped the puck over the net. Milano batted it in to open the scoring 5:14 into the middle period.
When asked after the game about coverage in front of the net on the play, Sabres coach Don Granato said he'd rather rewind the tape and focus on the mistakes that happened prior to that particular sequence.
"There were errors before that play that I really didn't like. Up ice in the entry, didn't like it. It should have never got to that point," he said. "There were plays prior to that that were things you could have eliminated before it ever happened."

Sam Carrick added another goal for Anaheim with 2:08 to play in regulation.
Buffalo outshot Anaheim 25-23, but Anthony Stolarz stopped everything he saw to earn his second shutout of the season.
Rookie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen started for Buffalo. Tage Thompson recorded a game-high six shots on net.

Luukkonen makes season debut

The Sabres committed to playing better defense after allowing 20 goals over the last three games. And although they limited the Ducks to two goals and 23 shots, they didn't generate any offense.
Luukkonen, making his fifth NHL start (and first of 2021-22), made 21 saves on 23 shots.
The Sabres currently have three goaltenders who are unable to play. Craig Anderson is month to month with an upper-body injury, Dustin Tokarski is in the NHL's COVID-19 protocol, and Malcolm Subban sustained an injury in his Sabres debut on Saturday.
Luukkonen, who was recalled before Monday's practice, hadn't played in 11 days because the Rochester Americans had all three of their games last week postponed because of COVID.
"I felt good. I got (used) to the pace of the game pretty early," Luukkonen said. "I think the guys played really well in front of me today so that made it easier. I didn't feel rusty at all today."
Luukkonen attributed his ability to feel comfortable in the net to his preparation between games.
"I think that's one of the positives. There's some things I'm obviously doing right in my daily habits and how I practice, so that's a positive thing to take out of it," he said.

Chances in the third

Some of Buffalo's best opportunities came late, particularly on a power play midway through the third period in what was still a one-goal game.
"It's tough to feel encouraged but you had a game that was tight. It was close," Granato said. "We just needed to find a way to get one and we didn't. It's tough to look past that right now."
Buffalo generated just 10 shots on goal through two periods of play. By the end of the night, the Sabres ended up with 66 shot attempts, but 17 missed the net and 24 more were blocked.
"What do I think about the first 40 minutes? We looked a little lethargic. And you can only guess why," Granato said. "We're going to try to figure that ourselves on the coaching side because we just didn't look like ourselves or play with the pace that we typically do and certainly intended to do."
Center Casey Mittelstadt, usually a conduit for offense, left the game 6:04 into the third period due to an injury. Tuesday marked three games since Mittelstadt had returned from a 21-game absence due to an injury sustained on opening night.
While he stressed they'll have more information in the morning, Granato said it is not a re-injury so at the moment, they are optimistic that Mittelstadt's absence will be short term.

Looking ahead

The game opened up a three-game homestand that will continue Friday night at KeyBank Center. The Sabres will look to put forth a better 60-minute effort against the visiting New York Rangers.
"We didn't play with the energy and the passion I wanted," Granato said. "That'll be the focus. We need to play with that."
Stay tuned for practice coverage on Sabres.com and the team's social media channels on Wednesday.