BUFFALO – Lindy Ruff walked into the Buffalo Sabres interview room Wednesday night, listened to a reporter ask an opening question, and he basically ignored it because he already knew what he wanted to say to get things rolling.
“I can sum it up this way: I thought we got outskated, I thought we got outworked,” Ruff said after watching the Sabres fumble away a 1-0 lead by allowing two goals in the final nine minutes to lose 2-1 to the Ottawa Senators. “We gave up six or seven odd-numbered rushes and the game-winning goal on an odd-numbered rush. Two breakaways, 3-on-1, 3-on-2, 2-on-1 and we had zero odd-numbered rushes.”
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There are bad losses, and then there are bad losses, and this was certainly a clunker for the Sabres as they allowed goals to Shane Pinto and Michael Amadio, neither of which goalie Colten Ellis had much of a chance of stopping.
After a stupendous road trip in California where they won all three games, the Sabres returned home in a joyous mood, having reversed a somewhat sluggish start to their season. They also got to enjoy three days of rest before taking the ice at KeyBank Center so they should have been invigorated and flying in front of another sellout crowd.
Instead, they lost to a Senators team that was playing the finale of a five-game road trip. All night the Sabres were sloppy as they couldn’t complete passes, couldn’t handle the puck cleanly when they had it, turned it over far too often, misfired on shots, and then had the breakdowns that allowed their Atlantic Division rivals all those odd-man rushes Ruff referenced.
“I think there’s a lot of bounces going the other way tonight in a game where you feel like you gotta have control,” said Josh Doan. “We had them in a good spot, a spot we want to be in. They capitalized on a couple of our mistakes. It’s going to be a dogfight all year in this division, and that’s a perfect example.”
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“I didn’t think we skated as well as we could, for sure,” Ruff said. “I thought when you’re not skating well, some of the puck play wasn’t very good. I’m not going to sit here and make excuses, we weren’t good enough. They won more puck battles, they created more odd-numbered situations. They were smarter than us.”
Here are a few observations:
Home ice has not been an advantage
Buffalo Sabres center Sam Carrick looks to play the puck from his knees during the second period against the Ottawa Senators at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.
After their West Coast sweep the Sabres are now 4-1-3 on the road, but this loss to Ottawa dropped them to 3-4 at home and in the four losses they have not scored more than one goal. They’re home for the next three games, so they better start figuring things out.
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“We talked this morning about being better in this building and we weren’t better,” Ruff said. “I think with three minutes left, we’ve taken a lot of pride not giving up something like that when points mean big points, and we gave up an odd numbered rush again.”
Peyton Krebs, who scored Buffalo’s only goal, said the Sabres need to stop trying to be too pretty.
“I think we want to do well for our fans and maybe we try to be a little bit too fancy and don’t get pucks on net early and deep,” he said. “That’s something that Lindy’s been preaching, and we’ve got to continue to stick with it if we want to win hockey games.”
Doan concurred, saying, “I think we’ve done a little bit of overcomplicating at home and trying to prove to our fans a style that isn’t always successful in this league. When it works it works by a bunch, but when it doesn’t, it doesn’t so it’s something we’ve got to get rid of.”
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Colten Ellis deserved a better fate
Buffalo Sabres goaltender Colten Ellis makes a save against the Ottawa Senators during the second period at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.
Ellis played superbly in shutting out San Jose 2-0, had a tough night in the 7-6 victory over Anaheim, and he was back on his game in this one as he stopped 28 of 30 shots and again, he really didn’t have much of a chance on either goal he allowed.
“He gave us a great performance,” Ruff said. “We gave them a point blank opportunity nine seconds into the game, then we followed that up with a backdoor, unbelievable save he made.”
Ruff was talking about a remarkable pad save Ellis made to rob Michael Amadio just 1:37 into the game. Josh Norris and Ryan McLeod each whiffed on an opportunity to clear the zone and suddenly the Senators had three men deep against Ellis and defenseman Mattias Samuelsson. Claude Giroux was able to feather a pass from circle to circle and Amadio had a yawning net to shoot at, but Ellis shot his right pad out and robbed him blind.
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All seemed fine as the Sabres were clinging to a 1-0 lead midway through the third, but then came the collapse. On Ottawa’s first goal, its night-long faceoff domination (they won 69.8%) finally paid off at 11:33 of the third period. Shane Pinto beat McLeod clean on the draw and the puck slid back to Thomas Chabot at the right point. He zipped a pass to Philip Tomasino in front and Ellis stopped him but the rebound caromed right to Pinto for an easy backhand tap-in.
On the winning goal at 16:51, Rasmus Dahlin couldn’t keep the puck in at the Ottawa blue line and Fabian Zetterland grabbed possession at center ice and carried the puck into the Buffalo end. He dropped a pass to Tim Stutzle who immediately found Amadio all alone cruising in from the left side for a one-timer from almost the same spot where Ellis had robbed him earlier, and this time he didn’t miss.
Sabres’ top line scored the lone goal
Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson follows through on a shot against the Ottawa Senators during the second period at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.
When Konsta Helenius got hurt in the San Jose game last week, Ruff moved Krebs to the first line to play with Tage Thompson and Zach Benson in Anaheim. That night, Thompson scored a natural hat trick and added two assists, Benson had a goal and two assists and Krebs had three assists.
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In Los Angeles, Thompson had two more goals and Benson two assists so there was no reason to change and in this game, that threesome struck for Buffalo’s only goal.
Samuelsson took a shot from the right point that didn’t get through but Benson outworked two Senators in front to tip the puck to Thompson alone in the high slot. He one-timed a snap shot that caromed off Krebs’ shin pad and past Ottawa goalie Samuel Ersson 14 minutes into the second period.
For Benson, it was his 13th point in the last 10 games and enabled him to achieve a career-best five-game point scoring streak.
Before the game, Benson was asked about the new line combo and he said, “I think (Thompson) is an elite goal scorer, he finds pockets of ice which I think meshes well with my game. I like to find guys in open pockets and make plays and if you give him a grade-A chance and it’s going in the net. Super fun player to play with, and Krebsy is a workhorse, super smart player, just competes on pucks, hard to play against and fun to play with.”
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Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: 3 observations from the Sabres’ frustrating loss to Ottawa
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