Sabres conclude back-to-back with 6-2 loss against Sharks

After earning a point with dominant second and third periods – and a three-goal comeback – Monday at Montreal, the Buffalo Sabres couldn’t match that performance Tuesday.

The result was a 6-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks at KeyBank Center, a game that was tied 1-1 with 22 minutes remaining before unraveling for Buffalo.

“Too many passengers,” said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. “They won the compete, they won the puck-play game. Our puck play was awful. Just too many guys took the night off.”

Tuesday concluded a back-to-back set for both teams, as the Sharks played Monday night in Toronto. Further, it marked the fifth game in eight days for the Sabres, and Ruff detected some fatigue from his team as it yielded frequent scoring opportunities to the speedy, young San Jose lineup.

“There’s no excuses,” said forward Tage Thompson. “Everybody is playing 82 games. Everybody has a tough schedule. You can sit here and try to make all the excuses in the world, but when you lace them up in the locker room and go out, you better battle. You better compete. We didn’t. We took tonight off.”

San Jose established its offensive presence from the jump, registering 10 shots and hitting three posts in a scoreless opening period. The Sharks generated eight high-danger scoring chances in the first, per Natural Stat Trick, but failed to beat Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

“You look at some of the plays in the first period, (we) handed them a couple of pucks where UPL had to make a great save just inside of our blue line,” Ruff said.

They finally cashed in 1:01 into the second, when Timothy Liljegren’s shot just barely squeaked across the goal line behind Luukkonen; play continued for a few seconds before the officials whistled it dead and called the goal via video review.

But the Sabres answered just four minutes later. Their power play, whose struggles highlighted postgame conversations in Montreal, found JJ Peterka for a one-timer goal from the right dot. Peterka later added an assist and has eight points (3+5) during a six-game scoring streak.

Tough puck luck put San Jose back in front 18:22 into the second, when Collin Graf’s centering pass deflected off Dylan Cozens skate and directly to Nico Sturm. Sturm didn’t miss on an open net.

“Tight game, tough goal goes in, (team's) discouraged, couldn’t push through,” said Ruff.

A four-goal third period followed for the Sharks. Thompson scored his 30th of the season on a one timer, narrowing Buffalo’s deficit to 3-2 with 13 minutes on the clock, but San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini matched that goal 63 seconds later. Will Smith and Tyler Toffoli added goals en route to the 6-2 final.

“I thought we tried to slow the game down too much,” Thompson said. “There wasn’t enough desperation. It was plain and simple – they outworked us, and we lost too many puck battles. Just going into 1-on-1s too casual, hoping we were going to win them instead of going down with some intensity. They came up with pucks and they got odd-man rushes because of it. They deserved that. They outworked.”

Here’s more from the loss.

1. The Sabres left Monday’s overtime defeat with positive takeaways from their performance, especially their defensive-zone breakouts and 5-on-5 success. Their self-assessment was harsher on Tuesday.

“We didn’t break the puck out well,” Ruff said. “… That first pass – how many times did we make a poor first pass? I don’t know if we made more than three or four last night.”

Defenseman Bowen Byram, who described this loss as “unacceptable,” was asked about the Sabres’ inconsistency from one game to the next this season.

“Every team has to prepare properly, prepare to go out there, compete, win battles and play to our structure," he said. "When that doesn’t happen, it’s hard to win games.”

The Sabres are now 0-3-1 in their last four games and 12 points out of a playoff spot with 22 games remaining.

“It doesn’t matter where we are in the standings – when you play a game, you should want to compete and win, plain and simple,” Thompson said. “Every day you come to the rink is an opportunity to get better and compete for each other in the room. We didn’t do that.”

2. Ruff, who tinkered with his lines throughout the game, broke up the defensive pairs in response to Buffalo’s breakout difficulties.

Rasmus Dahlin skated 12:37 alongside Mattias Samuelsson at 5-on-5, compared to just 6:07 with his usual partner Byram. Byram joined Power for 7:34, while Jacob Bryson and Connor Clifton reunited on the third pair.

“We were trying to hang around and just trying to look for a spark,” Ruff said.

3. Samuelsson re-entered the lineup after being a healthy scratch Monday at Montreal. Replacing Dennis Gilbert, Samuelsson delivered four hits and blocked two shots in 21:09 of ice time.

Jason Zucker, meanwhile, missed a fourth consecutive game. His lower-body injury dates back to Feb. 22, when he took a shot to the foot in Buffalo’s win over the Rangers.

Up next

The Sabres head to Florida, where their two-game road trip begins Thursday at the Lightning.

Puck drop for the nationally televised game is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN.