Buffalo start new campaign on European trip much the same way they ended last season
Score: Buffalo Sabres 1-4 New Jersey Devils
Shots: BUF 30-23 NJD
Buffalo Sabres Goals: Power (1)
New Jersey Devils Goals: Noesen (1), Kovacevic (1), Hischier (1), Cotter (1, ENG)
Minus 1: Speed kills
General Manager Kevyn Adams focused on increasing team speed this offseason as the Sabres entered the campaign with a completely rebuilt bottom six. And to some extent, it worked. Buffalo moved the puck quickly at times and were able to ‘get vertical’ as the saying goes with a lot more ease than before.
However, with the Devils jumping out into a two-goal lead in the first period meant they could sit back a bit and pick spaces behind the onrushing Sabres as Buffalo chased the game. Lindy Ruff’s former side used their own pace to get behind the Sabres, and with Jacob Markstrom making a couple of incredible saves, Buffalo were kept quiet for most of the game.
Oh, when you have key players (Mattias Samuelsson) and veterans (Jason Zucker) making rookie mistakes like this, you’re not going to get far.
Henri Jokiharju did not cover himself in glory on the Devils’ third goal, which effectively broke the Sabres’ back in the second period.
Minus 2: Top lines starting slow again?
The Sabres reluctance to add a top six forward means they cannot afford to have their offensive stars start slow like they did last season. Alex Tuch had spoken recently about knowing how he needs to be better this season, but if anything had changed we certainly didn’t see it today. Tage Thompson missing the goal twice early pretty much set the tone for how the offense was going to perform. He was on the ice for three goals against and one for – not good math there.
If Ruff had hoped that the powerplay would kickstart the team after their epically bad showing last season, well that didn’t happen either, going 0-for-4 with the man advantage and short of one sequence of play when the second powerplay unit was actually looking threatening, didn’t do much either. After the game he talked about his side missing some good looks on net, expect the Sabres to come out shooting tomorrow.
Rasmus Dahlin’s era as captain of the Sabres is off to a brutal start. He did not look comfortable for much of his time on the ice against the Devils’ pace, took an unnecessary interference penalty halfway through the first period. Buffalo going in at the first intermission down by a couple of goals is just something we got used to last season, and the Sabres will need leadership from anywhere they can get to keep that from becoming a millstone that hangs around the team’s collective necks.
Plus 1: All is not lost
The Sabres are a young team, and Lindy Ruff is going to take some time to find his feet again. The way Buffalo played today, they should be able to beat a good number of teams in the league. However, the Devils are a good yardstick to measure against given how well they played and are expected to be a contender this season.
There were some positives we can take away from today, and none bigger than goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. He showed exactly why he became the Sabres starting goalie last season, and to be honest the only reason why the Sabres didn’t end the first period five or six down. Buffalo matched New Jersey for hits with 25, and actually only turned the puck over 12 times versus the 22 times the Devils did.
How the Sabres started the third period is likely how Ruff and the fans would like to play this season when it looked like the ice was heavily tilted towards the Devils’ goal. The Sabres created more high danger chances, and had the higher expected goals for this one too, so they weren’t necessarily outplayed, but did get beaten by a wily team that took the chances their opponent presented them.
Final Thoughts
It is certainly frustrating to start the season in this manner, but we’re going to say this again and again, it’s just one game and there’s no more important game than the next one.
My Comment of the Game goes to Tage Against The Machine who was trying to stay positive after the first period, but it works for the first game of the season too.
All negative thoughts aside, the guys looked like they played hard and got some decent chances. We got burned a couple times with self-inflicted wounds but this game isn’t over yet. Still a lot of time to turn this around and we’ve got the talent to do it
Buffalo will play the same opponent tomorrow before they fly back home and can somewhat reboot their season, hopefully having already picked up their first win of the season.