BUFFALO, N.Y. — Jason Zucker skated off the ice, blood streaming from the bridge of his nose, and screamed in the direction of the Buffalo Sabres’ bench. He’d just had a spirited, back-and-forth fight with Islanders fourth-liner Oliver Wahlstrom and wanted it to spark his teammates as they tried to claw back from a 3-1 deficit.
“I think we needed a little bit of a boost to be honest,” Zucker said.
Zucker, who already had an assist on Buffalo’s first goal, took that energy into the third period. He drew a penalty shot but failed to convert. Then less than a minute later, he scored on a deflection in front of the net, offering a similar energetic scream to the home crowd.
None of it was enough, though, because not enough Sabres brought the same vigor that Zucker did. Even with three days off between games, the Sabres played another game characterized by their missed assignments on defense, sloppy puck management and inability to win battles for loose pucks. That resulted in a 4-3 loss.
“Let’s be real, we handed them three goals,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said after the game. “We’d been playing pretty tight and it’s starting to slip.”
The final score from KeyBank Center. pic.twitter.com/K1N72tKQAz
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) November 2, 2024
The Sabres are only 11 games into their first season with Ruff as their coach and they are now 4-6-1. Already, Ruff is dealing with some of the same frustrating mistakes from players as his predecessor. On the Islanders’ first goal of the game, Connor Clifton and Mattias Samuelsson were both pinching into the zone. Zucker got back, but an Anders Lee pass snuck by Jack Quinn’s stick and gave Bo Horvat a clean break to the net. Ruff chalked that goal up to a missed assignment. The next goal came when Samuelsson got caught deep in the offensive zone, and Jordan Greenway and Sam Lafferty combined for a turnover at the blue line to start an Islanders rush the other way.
“We had too many mental mistakes,” Zucker said. “We gave them chances off of plays we shouldn’t have. Forwards not covering for D, too many mental lapses, we got ourselves back down two goals. Against a team like that that plays stingy defense with a big D core, it’s hard to create offense. If you keep giving them two-goal leads it’s going to be hard to come back.”
The Islanders came into this game with one goal in their previous two games. They had also been shut out twice in their previous five games. They were playing without Mathew Barzal, one of their top forwards. And then they lost two defensemen to injury in the second period and had to play the rest of the game with four defensemen. Meanwhile, the Sabres had three days between games, including one day completely off.
“I don’t think we pressured their D enough,” Zucker said. “I don’t think we made it hard enough on them, especially when they were down to four D. I don’t think we pressed enough. I don’t think we were pushing hard enough. I think we have to be a little bit more aggressive on their D, make it a tougher night, chip every puck in and make them go back and back and back.”
Instead, the Sabres made life easy on the Islanders with simple mistakes and got outworked by an undermanned team.
“We didn’t win enough battles,” Ruff said.
This isn’t what the Sabres were supposed to look like under Ruff. Ruff pointed the finger at himself and said he needs to get the team playing tighter in the defensive zone. But this inconsistent, 11-game stretch to start the season is proof that a coaching change can only do so much. The Sabres’ players need to start doing the simple things more consistently and not let points slip away. It’s too early to say the 4-6-1 record is putting their playoff hopes in jeopardy, but the November schedule represents a significant opportunity for Buffalo to gain ground in the standings. Of their next 13 games this month, only four come against teams that made the playoffs last season. They can’t afford to let the stench of their loss on Friday linger.
Takeaways
1. Samuelsson was on the ice for three of Buffalo’s goals against in this game, including one on the penalty kill. He also wasn’t on the ice for a single goal for. Buffalo’s defensive issues are a team problem. Ruff has pointed out on multiple occasions that forwards have made some of the errors while covering for pinching defensemen. But Samuelsson has also made individual errors that have confounded the issue at times. When Samuelsson is on the ice at five-on-five this season, the Sabres have four goals and have allowed nine. He also has one of the highest on-ice expected goal shares among Buffalo’s defensemen. Buffalo’s goalies have an 85-percent save percentage when Samuelsson is on the ice, which is making his numbers look worse than they are. Still, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get Dennis Gilbert a game at some point to add some competition to the blue line.
2. Ruff mentioned Friday that he may need to use some of his depth with the Sabres playing another game Saturday against the Red Wings. That seems to point to Jiri Kulich getting a chance to go back in the lineup, because Zach Benson won’t be ready until next week. But the Sabres also used their top line a ton on Friday night. Alex Tuch played 24:38, JJ Peterka played 22:41 and Tage Thompson played 21:50. The fourth line got hardly any ice time in the third period against the Islanders and all finished with less than seven minutes played. That’s something to watch considering the team needs a much more spirited performance from that top line on Saturday.
3. Devon Levi played his first game in more than two weeks on Friday and allowed four goals on 36 shots. Three of the Islanders’ goals were on high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. He’s now played just four games this season and has one win, a 3.91 goals-against average and a .879 save percentage. This loss wasn’t his fault, but according to Money Puck, Levi had -1.28 goals saved above expected. That puts him at -4.5 goals save above expected for the season. Between the inconsistent playing time and the occasional defensive coverage lapses in front of him, this hasn’t been an ideal situation for Levi’s development early in the season.
(Photo: Timothy T. Ludwig / Imagn Images)
