BUFFALO, N.Y. — Two weeks ago, the Buffalo Sabres hosted the Florida Panthers and beat them soundly 5-2. But the Panthers didn’t have Matthew Tkachuk (illness), Aleksander Barkov (injury) and Sergei Bobrovsky (rest), arguably their three best players and almost $30 million worth of salary, in that game.
So the Sabres knew they would get a much different game from the Panthers on Monday with all three of those players back in the lineup, and that’s exactly what happened with Florida earning a 5-2 win of their own. Riding a three-game winning streak, the Sabres got a taste of exactly what can happen when you make simple mistakes against the NHL’s best teams.
It started with the first goal: Bowen Byram got caught flat-footed while jumping into the play, and Nicolas Aubé-Kubel wasn’t there to cover for him. The Panthers ended up with a 2-on-1. Jesper Boqvist beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen with the shot.
Less than a minute later, the Sabres made another error on the penalty kill. The Sabres ended up with two defensemen behind the net because Rasmus Dahlin vacated the front of the net. That left Sam Reinhart alone in front for an easy power-play goal.
“It was just a careless gamble that hurt us dearly against a really good player,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “We have to clean up those mistakes.”
Falling behind by two goals against any team in the NHL is a challenge, but it’s particularly perilous against the Panthers. But the Sabres found their way back into the game. They scored on the power play for the second straight game when Jason Zucker batted a puck out of the air in front of the net. Then Dahlin scored his first goal as captain of the Sabres less than two minutes later by driving the net on his backhand and putting a forehand shot behind Bobrovsky.
But again the Sabres gave one back when Carter Verhaeghe got an easy rebound in front of Buffalo’s net. This time, it was Tage Thompson who didn’t handle his responsibility in the defensive zone. That gave Florida a 3-2 lead at the second intermission. Last season, the Panthers were 35-0-3 when leading after two periods. They were also 33-4-6 when they scored the first goal and 25-3-4 when leading after one period.
“If you’re going to hand a team that was just Stanley Cup champions odd-number rushes, you’re going to pay dearly, and they made us pay,” Ruff said.
A comeback was always going to be difficult. But the Sabres made it harder with unnecessary penalties late in the game. In the third period, the Sabres were still down just a goal when Dahlin took a slashing penalty. The Panthers converted and started to pad their lead.
“I have to blame myself on that one,” Dahlin said. “It’s a game of inches and they were smarter than we were. Tough penalty at the end there, but we had a chance to come back and, yeah, stupid play.”
Florida ended up with 91 percent of the expected goals at five-on-five in the third period. They were smarter, more disciplined and finished the game stronger. The Sabres saw what the gap between them and the champs looked like.
“We showed that we can play with them and that’s a huge part of it, but we can’t be satisfied with that either,” Zucker said. “We lost the game and arguably did it to ourselves.”
Here are three takeaways from Buffalo’s loss.
Cozens and Quinn are in a slump
Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn are both still slumping. They have combined for one goal, and that goal was an empty-netter from Quinn.
Right now, Quinn is the bigger concern. Cozens had four scoring chances and three shots on net in this game. Quinn had one shot on net and zero scoring chances. The Sabres have 44 percent of expected goals and 42 percent of high-danger chances when Quinn is on the ice at five-on-five this season. Those are similar to Cozens’ numbers.
Ruff tried putting Zucker with those two last game and then gave Aubé-Kubel a shot on that line on Monday. Nothing seems to be working.
The Sabres can’t afford to have Cozens and Quinn provide so little in terms of offense. Monday was a prime example of why. Thompson didn’t register a shot on goal against the Panthers. They were able to effectively bottle up Buffalo’s top line. The Sabres didn’t have an answer. They got a power-play goal and a goal from a defenseman, but Buffalo lacks proven goal scorers outside of the top line. Cozens and Quinn are supposed to develop into those players. Ten games into the season, it hasn’t happened.
Dahlin takes accountability
Dahlin was quick to point to himself after the game for taking a dumb penalty and making a careless play on the penalty kill. He’s had other questionable plays in the defensive zone to start the season. His health seems to be improving given how involved he is in the offensive zone, but he’s still rusty. Given the way Dahlin spoke after the game, Ruff knows he’s going to self-correct.
“I think you just saw accountability,” Ruff said. “He doesn’t need me. That’s what any good leader would do is say, ‘It wasn’t good enough, we need to be better and let’s move on.’ We’ve been going good. We’ve got some good stuff that’s starting to happen. We had a chance to beat a good team. It was right there and we just weren’t good enough to get it done.”
Lineup notes
Aubé-Kubel returned to the lineup after missing about three weeks with a knee sprain. He’s wearing a brace on his left knee while returning from the injury. He started the game playing with Cozens and Quinn, but after his early mistake, Ruff moved him back to the fourth line.
To make room for Aubé-Kubel on the roster, the Sabres put Zach Benson on injured reserve retroactive to Oct. 19. Ruff previously said the Sabres are trying to get Benson back to 100 percent after he played through an ankle injury for the first part of the season. The injured reserve decision doesn’t extend his timeline at all.
The Sabres will have to make a tougher roster decision when Benson is back to full health. That could be waiving Jacob Bryson or sending Jiří Kulich to Rochester. Benson getting a conditioning stint in Rochester could also extend his timeline.
