Sabres' comeback falls short in loss to Ducks

ANAHEIM – Kyle Okposo scored late to bring the Buffalo Sabres within a goal, but they were unable to overcome an early deficit in what ended as a 4-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.

Jakob Silfverberg scored 5:51 into the contest to open the scoring for the Ducks, who extended their lead to 3-0 on goals scored 53 seconds apart by Sam Carrick and Silfverberg early in the second period.

Anaheim finished the middle period with a 19-6 edge in shots.

“It was probably the worst period we played all year, to be honest with you,” Okposo said. “It was awful. I mean, I don’t know. It was just not good enough. Just giving up chance after chance, on the wrong side of the puck. It was bad. We just put ourselves in too big of a hole. We battled in the third, but this league’s too good to be in a hole like that.”

Carrick’s goal came with 16 seconds remaining on Anaheim’s first power play of the night, when the Ducks forward swatted at a rebound and knocked it into the net out of mid-air. Silfverberg finished a 2-on-1 pass from Mason McTavish on the following shift.

Sabres coach Don Granato said he felt a shift in the team’s confidence following the two-goal sequence.

“That was the downer right there, and you’ve got to regather yourself,” Granato said. “And we didn’t until the start of the third period.”

The Sabres fought back late in the third period, beginning when Jeff Skinner battled in front of the Anaheim net to draw an interference penalty against defenseman Radko Gudas. Granato placed Jordan Greenway on the ensuing power play in search of more net-front presence, and Greenway rewarded the decision by deflecting a Rasmus Dahlin shot for Buffalo’s first goal.

Greenway was once again planted in front of Ducks goalie John Gibson on Okposo’s goal, a wrist shot from the slot that cut the deficit to 3-2 with 2:56 remaining.

“Pretty simple,” Granato said. “… When you get to the net, you get rewarded, and you don’t get rewarded when you don’t get to the net.”

The Sabres finished the period with a 15-8 edge in shots but were unable to push the tying goal past Gibson. Adam Henrique added an empty-net goal for the Ducks with 1:09 remaining.

The loss opened a three-game road trip in California, which continues Wednesday in Los Angeles.

“We have to do a better job of realizing where we’re at and what we need,” Okposo said. “We obviously didn’t feel good. But when you don’t feel good, you have to do the little things correctly so you’re in the right positions. We wanted it easy, and when you want it easy and the other team starts to feel good, it’s going be a long night. And it was a long second period, that’s for sure.”

Here are more notes from the loss.

1. Skinner returned to the lineup after missing five games with an upper-body injury. He skated 18:17 and had four shots.

2. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen started in goal for the sixth consecutive game and made 33 saves.

3. Okposo credited defenseman Mattias Samuelsson with providing a galvanizing moment that helped spur the Sabres’ near-comeback. During a penalty kill in the third period, Samuelsson went down after blocking a shot up high. He popped back to his skates and blocked another shot off his leg seconds later.

“That’s huge,” Okposo said. “That’s the kind of thing we need and those are the types of things that brought us up on the bench, that gave us a little life, and we kind of got going after that.”

Up next

The road trip continues against the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday. Pregame coverage on MSG/MSG+ begins at 10 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 10:30. Radio coverage can be found on WGR 550.