Sabres close out homestand with loss to Lightning

Tage Thompson said the Buffalo Sabres’ game plan going into the final game of their six-game homestand was to make the Tampa Bay Lightning work for their chances and make them defend by getting the puck behind, but he felt his team made it more difficult on themselves after allowing the Lightning to take a two-goal lead early in the first.

Although Buffalo limited Tampa Bay to just 16 shots on goal in the contest, the Lightning capitalized on their chances, including both goals in the opening period, to defeat the Sabres 3-1 inside KeyBank Center on Saturday.

“I think we let them off a little easy tonight, gave them kind of an easy game and obviously, they get a two-goal lead and now we’re chasing a little bit,” Thompson said. “… They’re a good team. They’re going to make you earn everything you get offensively. I think we just made the game a little bit too easy for them tonight.”

Tampa Bay opened the scoring 6:14 into the game after the Sabres turned the puck over in their own end. Anthony Cirelli retrieved the puck and drove to the net, sending a pass to Brandon Hagel, who fed Nick Paul for a one-timer from the right circle.

The Lightning forced another turnover less than a minute later as Tyler Motte stole the puck at the Tampa Bay blue line to go on a shorthanded breakaway. Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin made a diving play to try to get back to block the shot in the slot, but it was too late as Motte beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen under his right pad to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead.

“It’s a big, big part of the National Hockey League is managing the puck well,” Sabres coach Don Granato said. “When you don’t, they got guys that can convert, and that’s usually what they do before you defend. Teams are pretty good once they get in their defensive structure in this league. We were when we got in our structure and limited it. But it’s tough to get in your structure when you turn the puck over the couple times we did.”

The Sabres finally found the scoresheet with 6:08 to go in the second period after Dahlin ripped a shot on goal from the point. JJ Peterka went after the rebound and brought the puck behind the net before finding Dylan Cozens alone in front to beat Jonas Johansson glove side.

Luukkonen stopped all nine shots he faced in the second, including a point-blank opportunity for Brayden Point in front of the blue paint while Tampa Bay was on the power play, to keep Buffalo within one.

The Sabres outshot the Lightning 15-2 in the final period, but Johansson stopped all 15 shots sent his way and Calvin de Haan scored an empty-net goal to secure Tampa Bay’s fifth win in a row.

Luukkonen finished with 13 saves on 15 shots in his fifth consecutive start for Buffalo.

“I thought Upie played a great game, keeps it pretty tight for us and gives us a chance to get back into it,” Thompson said. “Cozey with a big goal there. And the third period, I thought we had some good looks, but it’s tough when you’re playing a good team like that to chase from behind.”

Granato shared the message to the team after the second was to get pucks in behind the Lightning defense, which he saw got better in the third, but thought that the deficit was difficult to overcome without capitalizing on their opportunities to score goals.

“Tonight, let’s face it, the chances were even and maybe favored us,” he said. “We didn’t score. We didn’t score tonight, and it becomes more disappointing because then not only can you look at what you didn’t score on – you look right back at, ‘OK, how did you give up the goals,’ and you’re frustrated either way you go about. You’ve got to move on, and you’ve got to move on fast.”

After going 3-3 during their six-game homestand, Thompson said the Sabres need to take things one game at a time to play to their standard.

“Yeah, I mean, obviously we want to be better, 3-3 is not good enough,” Thompson said. “But at the same time, we’ve got a road trip coming up here and we can make a big statement. We’ve just got to focus one game at a time here and go from there.”

Here's more from Saturday's loss.

1. Buffalo had a power-play opportunity with 8:04 remaining in the third period as Michael Eyssimont was called for tripping Jack Quinn. The Sabres only got 44 seconds on the man advantage before Zach Benson was assessed a slashing penalty for attempting to poke a rebound past Johansson.

After the game, Granato commented on the penalty, which came after a shot on goal by Casey Mittelstadt.

“… I haven’t seen that called all year, so, obviously, that’s frustrating,” Granato said. “That’s frustrating because you feel for Zach. He’s got to play aggressive and tenacious. When you look at the standard, that’s not even that aggressive – that particular play right there – which is, again, frustrating.”

2. Cozens and Mattias Samuelsson returned to the lineup after they missed time earlier in the week due to upper-body injuries.

Samuelsson missed the last two games after taking an elbow to the head from Vancouver defenseman Filip Hronek last Saturday while Cozens missed Thursday’s game against Chicago due to an injury he sustained versus San Jose on Monday.

Samuelsson skated 20:18 in his return, recording 3:29 of shorthanded ice time and one hit. Cozens logged 17:58 of ice time and two shots in addition to his goal.

3. Dahlin played in his 400th NHL game, becoming the 14th defenseman to play in 400 or more games with Buffalo and the 12th to play the first 400 games of his career with the Sabres.

Dahlin tallied the secondary assist on Cozens’ goal, extending his point streak to three games. He has recorded three points (1+2) in that span.

4. The Sabres were without defenseman Erik Johnson and leading goal scorer Jeff Skinner.

Johnson exited Thursday’s matchup with the Blackhawks after taking a hit into the end boards by Chicago forward Philipp Kurashev, who was assessed a five-minute boarding major. The Sabres’ leading penalty killer is day to day with an upper-body injury.

Skinner, who is day to day with an upper-body injury of his own, remains on injured reserve but did take the ice for practice with the Sabres on Friday.

5. Buffalo went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill to improve to 22-for-24 (91.7%) in the month of January.

The Sabres were led by Samuelsson (3:29), Jordan Greenway (3:08), and Connor Clifton (3:04), who each posted over three minutes of shorthanded ice time in Johnson’s absence to keep Tampa Bay's No.1-ranked power play at bay.

6. Goaltender Eric Comrie was recalled from the Rochester Americans prior to the game and backed up Luukkonen as Devon Levi was loaned to Rochester.

Following the game, defenseman Jacob Bryson was loaned to the Americans after he was recalled on Thursday.

7. The kids ran the show at KeyBank Center for Kids Takeover Day as young fans got involved in the game day experience with roles such as Jr. Reporter, Jr. Social Media Editor, Jr. In-Arena Host, Jr. PA Announcer, and Jr. Anthem Singer.

Our Jr. Reporters Hannah and Aliza made sure to ask Benson and Owen Power the hard-hitting questions!

We even had kids from Hillview Elementary School create player portrait drawings!

Up next

The Sabres kick off a three-game road trip out west when they visit the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Tuesday.

Faceoff is slated for 10 p.m.

The game will be available exclusively on ESPN+/Hulu. Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray will have the radio call on WGR 550.