'We've all got to be better' | Sabres shut out by Stars, fall to .500

The Buffalo Sabres were shut out, 4-0, by the Dallas Stars on Thursday at KeyBank Center.

Allowing the first goal for the third straight game, and chasing a multi-goal deficit for the fourth time in as many games this season, the Sabres (2-2-0) couldn’t muster a comeback against a very tough Stars team.

“If you’re going to play against this team and you get down, really hard play against,” coach Lindy Ruff said. “Our starts have to be better; we have to start putting the puck in the back of the net early.”

Peyton Krebs and Zach Benson both had Grade-A scoring chances in the early stages of the first period but couldn’t beat Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger, who ultimately made 26 saves in the shutout.

Stars forward Jason Robertson opened the scoring midway through the first, capitalizing on a 2-on-1 rush, and then the visitors strung together three more goals in a six-minute span in the second period. Sam Steel scored on a shot from high in the offensive zone, Mikko Rantanen lost coverage and buried a rebound off the end boards, and Roope Hintz added on with a power-play goal.

“That’s not good enough from me tonight,” said goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who faced 18 shots in his third start of the season. “… I don’t care if they score four on breakaways; you don’t win hockey games by letting in four goals. That’s just how hockey goes. Sometimes your team doesn’t have the best night, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a good night (in net).”

Luukkonen is 1-2-0 with a .782 save percentage through three appearances – a tough week after going 22-9-3 with a .910 last regular season.

“My job is to keep the pucks out of the net, and right now it’s not happening at a good enough pace,” he continued. “It’s only three games, but you don’t want to start a season like this. It’s not like they’re all bad goals or anything, but I think there’s something to clean up in every game.”

“We’ve all got to be better,” added Ruff. “… He’s had some ups and downs, but he’s battled. He’s the type of guy that he’ll own when he doesn’t like the way he plays, and he’ll battle to get better.”

While it was a certainly a substandard performance for the Sabres, they were also a bit snakebitten. Twice, Benson got the puck alone in front but couldn’t tuck it past Oettinger. Justin Danforth drilled the crossbar on a third-period rush chance. Buffalo generated 12 high-danger scoring chances to Dallas’ 10, per Natural Stat Trick.

The Sabres have led for only 12:10 of their 240:00 regulation minutes through four games, and their shooting percentage of 9.3 is well below the typical average. The power play is 0-for-13 after three chances Thursday. Goals will come, but in the meantime, they’re hoping for more consistent defending and goaltending.

“We really just didn’t have our game tonight,” said Mattias Samuelsson. “Obviously that’s not an excuse. Got to find a way to be effective when you aren’t feeling your best.”

“We’re 2-2 right now. It’s not a complete disaster,” Luukkonen added, “but you don’t want to feel good about being .500. There’s the Columbus game and this game where I think we could’ve played better and [won]. … It’s just finding details which are not in the game right now and sharpen those up.”

Postgame sound

Up next

The Sabres host the Utah Mammoth on Saturday at 7 p.m., with MSG’s pregame coverage starting at 6:30. Tickets are still available.