Sabres lament slow start in loss to Bruins

BOSTON – Lindy Ruff was blunt in his assessment of the Buffalo Sabres’ performance Saturday night at TD Garden.

“We have to just raise our level of compete,” the coach said after the 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins. “I thought our compete was terrible. Worst competing, skating, moving feet that I’ve seen.”

Reminiscent of Thursday’s season opener versus New York, the Sabres were playing from behind early. The Bruins held a 17-2 edge in first-period shots, one of which, a Pavel Zacha one-timer from the left circle, put Buffalo in a 1-0 hole. Besides for a couple early offensive-zone shifts, the visitors spent much of the opening frame in their own end.

“It just wasn’t good enough,” said forward Jason Zucker. “We weren’t winning battles. We weren’t skating. I don’t think we were supporting each other enough; we were a little too far apart offensively. I think we were throwing pucks away. We’re not making many plays offensively right now.”

Echoed Ruff: "It’s not the guy that has the puck, it’s the guy away from it. I thought we played some 1-on-1 hockey."

The early deficit would’ve been much larger if not for goaltender Alex Lyon, who’s now stopped 57 of 62 shots (.919 save percentage) through two games with his new team. He denied Fraser Minten on a 3-on-1 rush in the first period and made an excellent glove save on an in-tight Elias Lindholm in the second. It took a tough-luck redirection, midway through the second, to beat Lyon again and double Boston’s lead.

“He’s played great,” Ruff said. “I thought the first period was all Alex, really.”

“I think Lyon’s playing very well – a lot to be happy about there,” added Zucker. “Very impressed with his game. He’s held us in both games, in a lot of ways.”

With 9:46 to play in the third, Zucker finally broke through with Buffalo’s first goal of the new season, his shot deflecting off a defenseman and past goalie Jeremy Swayman. From there, the Sabres began firing everything on net and ultimately recorded 22 shots in the game, but they couldn’t find the tying tally.

“When we just started getting pucks to the net, even from tough angles, we got some bounces – we had (Peyton) Krebs in the slot alone, we had [Rasmus Dahlin] in the slot alone that we didn’t connect on,” said Ruff.

“We’re too much on the fancy side. Until we put the boots on, go to work and realize that the only way you’re gonna win hockey games in this league is outwork the other team…”

Though it’s been just two games, the Sabres know they can’t wait around – within games and the season – to establish themselves as a team that’s competitive from the opening puck drop.

“It falls on me; it falls on all the older guys on the team and the guys that have played for a few years now,” said Zucker. “The urgency has got to be there. From a mindset standpoint, I feel that we’re saying the right things. We’re not executing properly right now.”

Here’s more from the loss.

Doan moves up

Josh Doan stood out as one of Buffalo’s most active forwards Saturday night, showcasing his trademark forechecking ability, drawing a penalty and recording three shots in 16:00 of ice time. Buffalo outshot Boston 6-2 and led 15-7 in shot attempts during Doan’s 5-on-5 minutes.

The first-year Sabre started the night on a line with Peyton Krebs and Justin Danforth, but as Buffalo made its late push, he was promoted to the top group with Tage Thompson and Jiri Kulich.

“He worked hard,” Ruff said. “Moved him up. The guys I thought were going, I tried to get them in a better position to help us out. I think some of those changes helped.”

Turning the page

The Sabres are off Sunday before hosting the Colorado Avalanche on Monday at 12:30 p.m., and against that star-powered offense, they know they can’t wait around to find their footing.

“It’s certainly gonna be a test; I think everybody knows who we’ve got coming in the building in less than 48 hours,” Lyon said.

“When you’ve got a day off into a day game, you have to prepare the right way. And a lot of times in those day games, whoever is prepared the most, often does well.”

Tickets for Monday's game are available here.