Momentum boosts short-lived as Sabres lose to Flames

CALGARY, Alberta – After 60 minutes of penalties, unlucky redirections, momentum swings and other chaos, the Buffalo Sabres lost 7-4 to the Calgary Flames on Monday, leaving Scotiabank Saddledome with a third straight defeat to begin the road trip.

“We made some mistakes that you can’t make when you’re losing,” coach Lindy Ruff said.

Some tough early bounces netted the Flames a 2-0 lead in the first period. First, Yegor Sharangovich, screening Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, had a point shot redirect off his forearm to open the score.

Then, in the final moments of a 5-on-3 power play, Calgary’s Rasmus Andersson snapped his stick on a slap shot, but the skidding puck deflected off defenseman Conor Timmins’ skate and past Luukkonen.

“They got their bounces, and we didn’t, so that’s just how that was,” Tage Thompson said. “Good things happen when you deliver the puck to the net; I thought we did that, we just didn’t get rewarded.”

Buffalo’s offense then came alive with three second-period goals, but Calgary wasted little time responding to each one.

Thompson scored on the power play to snap a six-game goal drought; 2:41 later, in effectively another 5-on-3 for the Flames – Beck Malenstyn had just exited the box – Jonathan Huberdeau put them ahead 3-1.

A second Thompson goal was overturned for offsides, but then Owen Power capped off an extended offensive-zone shift by beating goalie Dustin Wolf with a wrister; 31 seconds later, Nazem Kadri made it 4-2, Calgary.

Rasmus Dahlin buried Josh Doan’s backdoor feed for his second goal of the season and first since Oct. 30; just 55 seconds after that, during 4-on-4 play, Yan Kuznetsov padded the Flames’ lead at 5-3. Dahlin was taken down behind the net moments before Kuznetsov scored, and postgame the Sabres voiced their displeasure with certain calls (or non-calls).

“I thought there was some terrible crap out there,” Ruff said. “Non-calls. They got the calls to go 5-on-3, and [the officials] could’ve made calls on them the same way and didn’t get them. We just claw our way back into the game, and they hook our player down behind the net, and there’s no call – on a pivotal play when we were carrying momentum. That can’t dictate a game.”

In summary, that second-period mayhem consisted of six penalties, 25 shots and six goals between the teams, but the Sabres exited with the same two-goal deficit they’d started with.

“There was a couple tough breaks, a disallowed goal, what I thought was a penalty behind the net and they score on it,” Thompson said. “It’s things you can’t control, and you’ve just got to keep pushing and finding ways to score, create chances and win a game.”

Things tightened up considerably in the third period, with seven shots for Buffalo and six for Calgary. Alex Tuch eventually scored at 6-on-4 with 2:31 remaining, but, again, Mikael Backlund answered with an empty netter 43 seconds later to ice the game. Sharangovich added another for good measure.

“We’ve got a game tomorrow and another three on this road trip, so we don’t have time to sit here and dwell on it,” Thompson said. “Obviously it sucks, and I think everyone in here is tired of saying we played a good game and didn’t get a win.”

Here’s more from the loss.

Goalie change after 2 periods

After Luukkonen stopped 17 of 22 shots through two periods, Alex Lyon entered for the third. He stopped all four shots he faced in just his second appearance since Nov. 13.

“Just thought we’d get Alex in there, and maybe if we needed a big save, he’d give one,” Ruff said. “There wasn’t a lot of saves in that third period to be made, but he gave us a big one on a 2-on-1. It just seemed like UPL was fighting it a little bit.”

Penalty trouble

The Sabres committed eight minor penalties, which resulted in a 2-for-5 showing by Calgary’s power play. Both goals, for all intents and purposes, came at 5-on-3.

“We’ve been pretty good all year not getting caught 5-on-3; you’ve got to eliminate that,” Ruff said. “We know going into tomorrow’s game – this game’s behind us – we can’t give Edmonton five or six power plays.”

The Oilers’ ever-dangerous power play is operating at 33.3 percent this season, tied for best in the NHL.

Up next

Buffalo is right back at it Tuesday night against the Oilers. Puck drop is scheduled for 9 p.m. EST, and MSG’s pregame coverage will start at 8:30.