PRAGUE — The Buffalo Sabres entered their season opener against the New Jersey Devils filled with optimism. New coach Lindy Ruff was raving about the team’s energy at practice and the buy-in players were showing for the new systems and coaching points. The Sabres had also been in Europe for nine full days before puck drop, so they had plenty of reason to be ready to go for the start of the game.
Last season, the Sabres finished with a minus-30 goal differential in the first period, an issue they never figured out. They started this season with a 2-0 deficit after one period.
“I wish I had an answer for that,” center Dylan Cozens said when asked about Buffalo’s slow start. “They came out faster than us and we didn’t have an answer for it right away. The second two periods we found our legs and we got going, but we need to be ready to go right from puck drop. We have to be better.”
Ruff said he thought some of the Sabres players had some nerves that caused poor puck management. That may have been the case on the first goal of the game when a Mattias Samuelsson turnover led to an easy Stefan Noesen goal. The Sabres then caught a bad break later in the period when Johnathan Kovacevic’s shot went off a Buffalo player’s skate and beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
From there, the Devils didn’t have much trouble putting the game away. Jacob Markstrom made a sensational save late in the first period, sprawling to make a stick save on Nicolas Aube-Kubel. Buffalo could have cut its deficit to 2-1 with a goal in that spot, but it proved to be a save that helped Markstrom get rolling. He stopped 30 of 31 shots and never allowed the Sabres a chance to get back in the game.
JACOB MARKSTROM ARE YOU SERIOUS?! 🤯 #NHLGlobalSeries
A save of the year candidate in the first game of the season!
🇺🇸: @NHLNetwork
🇨🇦: @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ https://t.co/4KjbdjVctF pic.twitter.com/1UIegYWVc4— NHL (@NHL) October 4, 2024
The Sabres went 0-for-4 on the power play, botching numerous zone entries and missing the net on some prime scoring chances. They still finished the game with a heavy advantage in shot attempts, scoring chances and high-danger chances, but the execution on those chances was lacking.
“I thought they were a step faster to loose pucks and they won more 50-50 battles early on,” Ruff said. “And I thought that was the difference in the game. You get off to a quick start like that and you get a little bit on your heels, but I thought later on in the first we missed some good looks to get back in it and didn’t execute at a high enough level.”
The Sabres don’t have a lot of time to stew over this game. They play the Devils again at 4 p.m. local time on Saturday and will try to avoid flying back to Buffalo 0-2.
“There’s 81 more games,” Cozens said. “We can’t dwell on this one.”
Quick hits
1. The glaring issue for the Sabres in this game was the way the top line played. JJ Peterka, Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch were on the ice for two goals against and didn’t score. The Devils had 71 percent of the expected goals when that line was on the ice at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick. Peterka had eight shot attempts but only two hit the net, while Thompson had seven shot attempts and only three hit the net. Buffalo added depth to the forward group this summer, but the top players are still going to have to carry the scoring load. That didn’t happen on Friday.
2. Nicolas Aube-Kubel left the game in the second period. After the game, he was walking outside the Sabres’ locker room with a brace on his left leg. Ruff said it’s unlikely he’ll play on Saturday when the Sabres play their second Global Series game against the Devils. Aube-Kubel started the game with Sam Lafferty and Beck Malenstyn but played only 5:45 before exiting with an injury. Peyton Krebs is the likeliest candidate to replace Aube-Kubel on the fourth line, because that would require only one change to the lines. Ruff could also put Jiří Kulich in the lineup and bump Jordan Greenway to the fourth line if he’s looking for a scoring spark.
3. Cozens had a promising start to the season with seven shots on net, seven individual scoring chances and two high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. Early in the game when the Sabres were sluggish, Cozens was driving the play. He was the one who sparked the Sabres’ second power-play unit with three shots, while the first unit had just one total shot on net. This game was an encouraging start for Cozens. He, Zach Benson and Jack Quinn weren’t on the ice for a goal against at five-on-five.
4. Devon Levi will likely make his season debut on Saturday. After an uneven performance from Luukkonen, Levi has a chance to make a strong early impression on Ruff. Luukkonen made only 18 saves on 21 shots despite the fact that the Sabres limited the Devils to two high-danger chances against.
(Photo: Ben Ludeman / NHLI via Getty Images)
