Postgame Report | Sabres open homestand with loss to Coyotes

Tage Thompson scored the lone goal for the Sabres in a 4-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.
Eric Comrie made 20 saves. The Sabres finished with a 33-25 advantage in shots and a 47-23 advantage in 5-on-5 shot attempts, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The Coyotes scored all three of their non-empty-net goals with favorable bounces - a turnover off a reverse behind the Buffalo net, a pass off the skate of Dylan Cozens on the power play, and a shot through net-front traffic.
"We didn't play hard enough in the areas we need to play hard," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "We were too slow that we hit goalposts. Their goalie, I thought, played real well. But the bottom line is we could've won a game but we didn't go attack a game like we needed to. We certainly could've won the game, but did we play the way we needed to play? No, we didn't."
The loss opened a four-game homestand for the Sabres, who were coming off back-to-back road losses to Carolina and Tampa Bay on Friday and Saturday.
"I do think our guys will look in the mirror on this one," Granato said. "It's just frustrating in the moment and we got to take it to heart."

Video: POSTGAME: Granato

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How it happened

PERIOD 1
The Coyotes bookended a period that was heavily controlled by the Sabres with a pair of goals, both products of favorable bounces in the Buffalo zone.
Lawson Crouse was the beneficiary of a turnover off the end boards, putting the Coyotes on the board just 23 seconds into the contest. Matias Maccelli was credited with a power-play goal with 2:30 remaining when he attempted a pass through the middle and saw it deflect in off the skate of Cozens.
The Sabres, meanwhile, earned three power plays in the period and outshot the Coyotes, 13-7. Thompson finally put them on the board on the third opportunity, wiring a shot from the right circle after Alex Tuch won a battle down low to gain possession.

PERIOD 2
The Sabres killed off a double-minor penalty to keep the deficit at one goal. They finished the scoreless period with a 14-11 edge in shots.
PERIOD 3
The Coyotes extended their lead just 2:24 into the period on a deflection by Liam O'Brien.
The Sabres were held off the board by Coyotes goaltender Karel Vejmelka, whose six-save period included a stop on a deflection from in tight by Jack Quinn and a redirect from Rasmus Asplund. Victor Olofsson also hit a post during third period, his second of the game.
Clayton Keller added an empty-net goal for the Coyotes with 2:10 remaining.

What we learned

1.Rasmus Dahlin returned from a one-game absence stemming from an upper-body injury he sustained against Carolina. He skated 27:30 with three shots on net and an assist.
2. Thompson and Dahlin each recorded their 15th point of the season on Thompson's goal, tied for the most on the Sabres.
3.The Sabres are now winless in three straight games, but had chances to win each of them. They held multiple leads against the Hurricanes and earned a third-period lead against the Lightning despite playing without Dahlin.
Asplund was asked how the Sabres need to respond.
"Just keep working," he said. "Keep playing our game because we know we can have success when we play the way we want to play. We have a great team and we're going to be a good team. It's a good learning experience for us, I think, and we just need to bounce back here now with a big game on Thursday."

Up next

The homestand continues Thursday against Vegas. Tickets are available here.
The game can be streamed exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu beginning at 7 p.m. Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray will have the call on WGR 550.