At least the Buffalo Sabres got a point on the road Wednesday night. Otherwise, their 6-5 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins would have felt like a complete missed opportunity.
The Sabres scored two goals in the first 3:08 of the game. On one, Tage Thompson took advantage of Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry misplaying the puck. On the second, Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson made it way too easy for Jordan Greenway to steal the puck on the forecheck. Greenway continued his early-season tear by finishing the play with a goal. By the end of the first period, the Sabres had a 3-1 lead thanks to a perfect shot from JJ Peterka.
Last season, the Sabres were 18-3-1 when leading after one period, so that lead should have been safe. Instead, what Sabres coach Lindy Ruff called “terrible” puck management in the second period allowed the Penguins to hang around in what turned into a back-and-forth game. The Sabres are now 1-3-1 to start the season. Here are some takeaways from Buffalo’s overtime loss.
1. Coming into this game, the Penguins were taking an average of three penalties per game and allowing the fourth-most shots per 60 minutes on the penalty kill in the league. This looked like the type of opponent who would give the Sabres a chance to get their struggling power play on the right track.
The Sabres also shuffled their power-play groups heading into the game. They put two defensemen, Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin, on the top unit with Thompson, Dylan Cozens and Jason Zucker. The second unit was Bowen Byram up top with Jack Quinn, Alex Tuch, Zach Benson and Peterka.
Only the Panthers, who are dealing with injuries, and the Penguins, who have future Hall of Famers Karlsson and Kris Letang, go with two defensemen on their top power-play unit. But Ruff needed to switch something up. Buffalo came into this game as one of four NHL teams without a power-play goal. The Sabres were 0-for-14 on the power play in the first four games.
It’s not easy to boil down the power-play struggles to one thing. Zone entries were an issue early. According to NHL Edge data coming into this game, the Sabres were spending 49.7 percent of their power-play time in the offensive zone, which is 7 percent below league average. It’s also 12 percent below the league average last season and 11 percent below where the Sabres were last season.
Last season, the Sabres were 23rd on the power play after finishing ninth in 2022-23. It was a major reason why their offense dropped off and they struggled to stay in the playoff picture.
On Wednesday, the power play found a new way to hurt the Sabres. The Sabres got a power play in the second period while leading 3-1. Zucker took a penalty 48 seconds later to negate the man advantage. Then the Penguins took another penalty to give the Sabres a four-on-three chance. That’s when Cozens turned the puck over near the offensive blue line and the Penguins got a short-handed goal the other way.
That gave the Penguins life when the Sabres had a chance to extend the lead to 4-1. Instead, the game ended up tied heading into the second intermission after the Penguins got another goal a few minutes later.
2. Evgeni Malkin’s 500th career goal could have been the backbreaker for the Sabres. Just over three minutes into the third period, Malkin scored on a rebound for his milestone goal to put the Penguins up 4-3 in front of the home crowd. His teammates emptied the bench to congratulate him and Pittsburgh fans gave him a standing ovation. Earlier in the night, Sidney Crosby had gotten an assist for his 1,600th career point. Pittsburgh had a lot of positive energy at that point.
But the Sabres were still able to snatch the game back. Peterka, who had already scored in the first period, got the game-tying goal on another terrific shot off the rush. Ryan McLeod scored less than a minute later, and the Sabres had the lead back.
Peterka was excellent in his return from a concussion that caused him to miss three games. He led the Sabres in shot attempts and scoring chances and capitalized with two key goals. The top line looks like it’s rounding into form. Thompson had his third goal in this game and Tuch has 6 points and a four-game point streak while looking like a handful on the forecheck.
3. That the Sabres had a third-period lead made the way they lost this game even more frustrating. The Penguins scored with 46 seconds left with an empty net. A shot leaked through Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and the Sabres weren’t strong enough in front of their net to prevent Rickard Rakell from getting the easy tap-in. Luukkonen ended up with six goals against. Five came on high-danger chances, but that goal and the short-handed goal on the two-on-one were two he’d like to have back.
4. Special teams and situational hockey doomed Buffalo. In overtime, Thompson took a penalty that gave the Penguins what ended up being the decisive power-play opportunity. Not only did the Sabres strike out on their power play and allow a short-handed goal, they also allowed two power-play goals along with the goal at six-on-five. Buffalo had five even-strength goals. That should win you a game more often than not.
5. The Sabres need more out of Cozens and Quinn than they got Wednesday. Cozens’ turnover on the power play led to the short-handed goal that gave Pittsburgh life. Then Quinn had a careless turnover in the offensive zone that led to a goal going the other way. Cozens and Quinn have a combined 1 point through five games, and both have gotten plenty of opportunities with top-six minutes and power-play time.
6. Jiři Kulich was a healthy scratch, but the Sabres might want to consider putting him back in. Zach Benson is fighting through an injury and could use a game off. Or maybe Kulich could replace Quinn if Ruff wants to send an early message about internal competition on the roster. Either way, Kulich was improving with each game he played, and the Sabres could use him on the power play. Finding a way to get him into the lineup makes sense.
7. Devon Levi should get the start in net against the Blue Jackets on Thursday, and he has an opportunity to create an early goalie competition. Luukkonen hasn’t been bad to start the season, but he hasn’t quite found the level he was at in the second half of last season, either. And Levi has been sharp in his two starts, including in the Sabres’ lone win of the season. If he can get a win in Columbus, Ruff might go right back to him in Chicago on Saturday.
(Top photo: Charles LeClaire / Imagn Images)
