Postgame Report

SEATTLE – Lost battles proved costly for the Buffalo Sabres in a 6-4 loss to the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Monday.

The game was even by most statistical measures; the Kraken led 34-29 in shots while the Sabres led 64-59 in shot attempts and 13-11 in high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff pointed to battles won by the Kraken as the difference.

“Every goal there was a lost battle,” Ruff said. “You’re not going to win games (losing battles). You lose the net-front battle for goals, you lost below-the-goal-line battles. Almost 90 percent of their opportunities were on the hands of us not winning a battle.”

Lindy Ruff addresses the media

The Sabres opened the scoring just 5:07 into the contest on a goal from Jack Quinn, who scored from the point with bodies in front of Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord. The Kraken responded with their first goal just 27 seconds later, the product of a battle won below the Buffalo net by John Hayden and Mitchell Stephens. After securing possession for the Kraken, Hayden popped to the net-front and buried a rebound off a shot from the point.

Seattle went on to score the next two goals, a quick strike from Chandler Stephenson off a blocked shot later in the first period and a power-play goal from Matty Beniers early in the second, to earn a 3-1 lead.

“Didn’t win enough battles,” forward Tage Thompson said, echoing his coach. “I thought our execution in the first was terrible. This is a tough building to come in and play in and we weren’t committed to the game plan we set in front of ourselves.

“We told ourselves we were going to get pucks behind them, get pucks to the net. We were slow through the neutral zone, we were on the perimeter, held onto pucks too long, turned them over and just fueled their offense.”

The Sabres staged a comeback in the second period, tying the score at 3-3 on goals from Jason Zucker and Thompson. Once again, the Kraken responded quickly, with defenseman Jamie Oleksiak pinching down from the offensive blue line to bury a one-timer just 56 seconds after Thompson had scored the tying goal.

“The good was we battled back,” Ruff said. “The bad was as soon as we battled back, we gave up one. On two of the goals we scored, we immediately give up one.”

Seattle added to its lead with 9:35 remaining in the third period on an Adam Larsson shot that deflected off Thompson and went in between the pads of goaltender Devon Levi.

Alex Tuch scored 6-on-5 to spark one final comeback push with 1:21 left to play, but Jared McCann scored an empty-net goal for the Kraken 17 seconds later.

The loss opened a four-game road trip for the Sabres, which continues Tuesday in Vancouver. Ruff had a simple directive in terms of the response he hopes to see.

“Just win battles,” he said. “Win battles.”

Here’s more from the loss.

FINAL | Kraken 6 - Sabres 4

1. Zucker's goal, a deflection off a shot from Rasmus Dahlin, was his team-leading ninth on the power play this season. He has 16 goals overall, second on the team to Thompson (20).

2. Jiri Kulich returned to the lineup after missing four games with a lower-body injury. The 20-year-old rookie filled the spot between Zucker and Thompson that was vacated by Ryan McLeod, who is expected to miss roughly a week with an upper-body injury,

Kulich led the Sabres with six shots, including multiple point-blank attempts that were turned away by Daccord.

“I thought he played great,” Thompson said. “I enjoyed playing with him. He moves his feet, works hard. He’s a natural goal scorer, those are going to go in for him. I like the spots he gets to on the ice. He thinks the game offensively very well and he’s responsible defensively. But I thought he did a good job of finding those pockets to get shots off. He was always in the middle of the ice, which is where you want to see guys, especially in scoring chances. Like I said, he had three point-blank shots. Someone with his shot, those are going to go in. Obviously a little unlucky for him tonight, but I liked his game.”

3. Levi, who was recalled on Saturday, made 28 saves in his first NHL start since Dec. 15. James Reimer served as backup with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen recovering from what Ruff referred to as “nagging” ailments. Luukkonen started the last five games prior to Monday and participated in Sunday’s practice.

Up next

The road trip continues Tuesday in Vancouver. Coverage on MSG begins at 9:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 10.