The Buffalo Sabres came up short in Monday’s back-and-forth contest at Climate Pledge Arena, losing 6-4 to the Seattle Kraken.
Buffalo overcame a two-goal deficit in the second period before falling behind once again. Quick responses were the story of the afternoon for the Kraken, who on three occasions matched Sabres goals within a minute.
Tage Thompson (1+1), Jason Zucker (1+1) and Peyton Krebs (0+2) had multi-point games for Buffalo, with Jack Quinn, and Alex Tuch scoring the Sabres’ other goals. Forward Jiri Kulich, returning from a lower-body injury for his first game since Jan. 6, skated 16:26 and tallied a game-high six shots on goal.
Sabres goaltender Devon Levi made his first NHL appearance since Dec. 15 and made 28 saves on 33 shots.
Jared McCann had a goal and two assists while John Hayden, Chandler Stephenson, Matty Beniers, Jamie Oleksiak and Adam Larsson also scored for Seattle. Ryker Evans tallied a pair of assists, and goalie Joey Daccord stopped 25 of 29 shots.
The Sabres went 1-for-3 on the power play and killed one of two shorthanded situations.