Sabres look to ‘just get ugly’ after another slow offensive night

The power play broke through early, but that was the Sabres’ only scoring in a 4-1 loss to the Utah Mammoth on Saturday at KeyBank Center.

Two quick goals late in the second period gave Utah the lead and ultimately decided Buffalo’s second straight loss. The Sabres are now 2-3-0 to start the season.

“I just thought we had guys that were squeezing the stick. We had chances to put pucks to the net, and I think everybody realized that – we didn’t put them (in),” coach Lindy Ruff said. “… We haven’t been connected. We’re trying to find who we are.”

This current offensive slump has seen the Sabres manage just one total goal in two games, and chances were hard to come by Saturday with just 11 total shots through two periods. Utah clogged the middle of the ice and seemed to get a stick on every Buffalo shot or pass into dangerous areas.

“We’ve got to improve our drive away from the puck,” Ruff said. “We probably had five or six plays where we get to the top of the circle and we’re looking east-west instead of driving, slipping the dot lane and getting a look at the net.”

“We’re five games in. Obviously, we know we need to be better,” agreed Tage Thompson, who scored Buffalo’s goal eight minutes in. “Whether you’re fighting the puck or you don’t think you’re generating clean looks, that’s when you’ve just got to get to the net and throw pucks and get bodies there and just get ugly.”

There was nothing pretty about Thompson’s power-play goal, which snapped Buffalo’s 0-for-13 to start the season. The forward carried the puck up ice and into the zone, shot from a wide angle and beat Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka short-side for a 1-0 Sabres lead.

The Mammoth needed just 2:12 to tie the game, though, with Kailer Yamamoto getting free at the back post and burying a Barrett Hayton centering pass. The play began with a shot from the neutral zone that rebounded off Colten Ellis’ pad to Hayton in the corner. On a few occasions, Ellis rebounds led to extended offensive-zone pressure for the Mammoth.

“There was some shots through traffic that it was kind of tough to manage. A couple of them, I probably got out there a little more than I would like and more than usual,” said the Buffalo goalie after a 26-save night. “So, something to clean up and just get used to playing through that traffic, getting through the sightlines.”

Things got nasty at times in the second period, as the Sabres dug for pucks in Vejmelka’s crease and prompted some post-whistle scrums – one saw Peyton Krebs fight Mackenzie Weegar, hoping to inject some energy into the Buffalo bench.

And the Sabres did start generating more, with 13 shots and 19 scoring chances in the third period alone. But they trailed by three at that point and couldn’t beat Vejmelka again to chip away at the deficit. Six of those 13 third-period shots came on the power play, which remains a work in progress despite the Thompson goal.

“We got what I would call a pretty fluky power-play goal today,” Thompson said. “That being said, I thought our power play was a little bit better tonight. Moving the puck, getting pucks going to the net quicker. But there’s still a lot of work there.”

Utah’s lethal power play, meanwhile, was a difference maker with two goals in five opportunities.

Six Sabres forwards have played all five games without scoring a goal yet. The lines have been shuffled quite a bit, so any shortage of chemistry would be understandable, but the team is still seeking a breakthrough game that gets the offense humming again.

“You’ve got to have something good happen,” Ruff said. “You need a game where, all of a sudden, a couple of those guys get on the board, whether it’s a deflection, whether it’s just a lucky goal that goes off you. But they need something good to happen. When I say they’re squeezing sticks, it means they’re not making plays that I think they can normally make.”

Postgame sound

Up next

The homestand wraps up Monday at 1 p.m. against the division-rival Florida Panthers. MSG’s pregame coverage starts at 12:30, and tickets are still available.