Defensive miscues, penalties prove costly in loss to Panthers

Lindy Ruff attributed the Buffalo Sabres’ 5-2 loss to the Florida Panthers on Monday to a handful of costly miscues, namely penalties and missed defensive assignments that overshadowed what was an otherwise competitive game against the reigning Stanley Cup champions.

The Sabres erased a 2-0 deficit before Carter Verhaeghe buried a rebound past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to score what would stand as the winning goal with 3:16 remaining in the second period.

Buffalo pushed for the tying goal after falling behind 3-2, but a slashing call against Rasmus Dahlin with seven minutes remaining opened the door for a power-play goal from Sam Bennett. Aleksander Barkov added Florida’s fifth goal just 1:08 later to complete a two-point night in his return from injury.

“We had a chance to beat a good team,” Ruff said. “It was right there. We just weren’t good enough to get it done.”

The Panthers earned four power plays in total, including one that ended with Sam Reinhart burying a no-look feed from Barkov to give them a 2-0 lead during the first period.

Dahlin, who scored his first goal of the season, was self-critical when discussing his third-period slashing call after the game. The penalty came during a battle along the boards with Panthers forward Anton Lundell.

“Got to blame myself on that one,” Dahlin said. “They were smarter than we were. Tough penalty at the end there. We had a chance to come back, but, yeah, stupid play.”

Ruff commended his captain for his tough self-assessment.

“What we talked about at the start of the year, accountability – I think you just saw accountability,” Ruff said. “It doesn’t need me. I think that’s what any good leader would do. Just say, ‘It wasn’t good enough, we need to be better, and let’s move on.”

• Next home game: Friday vs. New York Islanders (Hockey Fights Cancer Night)

While Bennett’s power-play goal quelled the Sabres’ attempt at a comeback, Ruff pointed to defensive miscues that had been uncharacteristic during the team’s recent three-game winning streak as the reason they had fallen behind in the first place.

Florida opened the scoring on an odd-man rush 11:01 into the contest, which ended with Jesper Boqvist scoring from in tight. Reinhart’s power-play goal followed 58 seconds later, a deflection from in front as two defenders committed to Barkov behind the net.

The Sabres trailed 2-0 after the first period despite an 8-6 lead in shots.

“You can say we had a good start, but we gave them odd-numbered rushes,” Ruff said. “We missed our assignments and … they made us pay dearly. Talked about odd-numbered rushes, if you’re going to hand a team that was just Stanley Cup champions odd-numbered rushes, you’re going to pay dearly, and they made us pay. That’s on us.”

Playing from behind for the first time in four games, the Sabres evened the score during the second period with a power-play goal from Jason Zucker and a drive to the net from Dahlin. But Verhaeghe was alone at the backside of the net for his go-ahead goal later in the period.

“I think it was a little sloppy overall,” Zucker said. “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. We lost the game and arguably did it to ourselves. We’ve got to regroup here. We’ve got a couple of days to regroup, spend a little bit of time and get back after it.”

Here’s more from the loss to Florida.

1. Florida had only allowed one power-play goal in its last eight games prior to Zucker batting in a Tage Thompson shot out of mid-air for Buffalo’s first goal on Monday.

The Sabres have now scored power-play goals in each of the last two games, both off the stick of Zucker. They had several chances to tie the game on their next power play during the third period, including a Thompson attempt that was blocked by Reinhart and a JJ Peterka one-timer that was turned away by Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.

“It’s simplicity,” Zucker said. “Shooting pucks. We’ve had a shooting mentality. If you look at our goal last game, I think we had six or seven shots or opportunities. Puck recoveries. Tonight it started off with a shot.”

2. Thompson extended his point streak to seven games with the assist on Zucker’s power-play goal. He has six goals and five assists during that span.

3. Zucker credited the Sabres’ second-period comeback to the simple, detailed approach that had led them to success entering Monday. The Sabres were 4-1-1 in their last six games and had won their last three contests.

“We kept it simple,” he said. “When we play simple, we play straight ahead, we’ve had a lot of success this year. When we start trying to be a little fancy, we’re not tracking back enough, giving up odd-man rushes, that’s been unlike us this year and tonight we did a lot of those things.”

4. Nicolas Aube-Kubel returned to the lineup after missing the last eight games with a lower-body injury. He began the night on a line with Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn but shifted alongside Sam Lafferty and Beck Malenstyn during the first period.

Up next

The Sabres conclude their four-game homestand against the New York Islanders on Friday. It will be Hockey Fights Cancer Night at KeyBank Center with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. Tickets are available here.