By Staff Reporter
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres have made a habit of digging themselves a two-goal hole and then climbing out of it. On Wednesday night at KeyBank Center, against a Philadelphia Flyers team that opened the season without a win in its first nine games, they dug the hole and stayed in it.
The Flyers won, 3-1, behind two goals from Cole Knuble, a rookie playing his second NHL game. The loss ended Buffalo’s four-game point streak, dropped the Sabres to 4-4-2 and sent them off on a four-game road trip with the same question that has trailed them since June: who, exactly, is going to stop the puck?
Same start, different ending
Philadelphia led 2-0 before the first intermission. Mr. Knuble cleaned up a rebound with a backhand at 14:49 of the first period, and Trevor Zegras batted a rebound out of midair on the power play at 19:17, according to the NHL.com game recap.
It was a familiar script. Before the game, the team’s own Sabres.com preview noted that Buffalo had trailed by two or more goals in all but one of its first nine games, and had erased two-goal deficits in five of them.
Captain Rasmus Dahlin, who returned Wednesday from an upper-body injury he suffered Oct. 12, had named the problem at practice on Monday.
“We can see when we’re down a couple goals, that’s when we play our best hockey,” Mr. Dahlin said, as quoted by Sabres.com. “So, we’ve got to make sure we have better starts to the game – (better) first halves, and don’t let the other team come into games – because it’s mentally hard to have to come back every game. We’ve got to flip it around a little bit.”
Mr. Dahlin played 26 minutes 27 seconds and put four shots on goal in his return. Jason Zucker, making his season debut after offseason sports hernia surgery, cut the lead to 2-1 with a power-play redirection of a Jack Quinn feed at 19:25 of the second period. But Mr. Knuble restored the two-goal margin 3:03 into the third, and Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar finished with 27 saves.
‘Missed nets, missed opportunities’
Buffalo outshot Philadelphia 28-26, according to the box score. Coach Lindy Ruff said the shots that never reached the net told the bigger story.
“We talked about missed nets, missed opportunities,” Mr. Ruff said after the game, according to NHL.com. “I think we’re, like, 31st or 32nd when it comes to missed nets. I thought we had some great looks in the first period, some good looks in the second period, too. I still think we missed the net too often. Our net-front coverage, again, we just handed them an easy goal.”
Mr. Zucker was no easier on himself.
“I think I was OK,” he said, according to NHL.com. “I think I’ve got a lot better. I’m not very happy with it overall. I think part of it comes with just getting more time and more games and that. But I thought it was average for me.”
Tempers showed late. Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, playing his 300th NHL game, fought Philadelphia’s Hunter McDonald at 15:13 of the third period and was assessed an instigator minor and a game misconduct, according to the official scoring summary.
The crease, and the noise around it
The goal that put the game away slipped behind Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s left leg. Mr. Luukkonen made 23 saves on 26 shots, and his numbers are the reason the Sabres’ goaltending has become a league-wide conversation.
Last season, Mr. Luukkonen posted a .910 save percentage in 35 appearances as the Sabres went 50-23-9, won the Atlantic Division with 109 points and ended an N.H.L.-record 14-season playoff drought. Through his first seven appearances this season, he carried an .860 save percentage, SabreNoise reported, though he had steadied to a 2-0-2 record over the four starts before Wednesday. Backup Alex Lyon remains out with an upper-body injury, and Colten Ellis has struggled.
Hovering over all of it is Connor Hellebuyck, the three-time Vezina Trophy winner whose team-imposed suspension by the Winnipeg Jets, after he did not report to training camp, is set to end Friday, Sportsnet reported, citing sources. Buffalo and Winnipeg were reported to be close to a deal around the N.H.L. draft in June before talks broke down, and ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported Monday that at least three teams remain in the mix. Any deal would be complicated by Mr. Luukkonen’s five-team no-trade list, which has been reported to include Winnipeg.
Sabres general manager Jarmo Kekalainen went on WGR 550 on Tuesday and, without directly addressing the Hellebuyck reports, backed the goalie he has.
“Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is a really good goaltender and has a lot to give to the Buffalo Sabres, and he’ll be a big part of our future,” Mr. Kekalainen said, according to The Fourth Period and SabreNoise.
He did not pretend the start had been good. “The consistency is the key. Has he been on the level that he was last year, probably not. Does he get there, I believe he will,” Mr. Kekalainen said. “And I think he’s a pretty level-headed guy who can put out the noise in the background and just concentrate on the job, but we’re all humans too.”
Before Wednesday’s game, Mr. Ruff was asked what it was like for Mr. Luukkonen to keep playing while his name circulates in trade talk.
“He understands that. He’s aware of it obviously,” Mr. Ruff said, according to SabreNoise. “He’s had his ups and downs, and I think we’ve seen some good hockey out of him even through it. It’s part of what you have to deal with. I don’t know sometimes where half the crap comes from.”
What comes next
The Sabres will not play at home again until Nov. 4. The trip opens Saturday in Washington and then heads to California, a stretch that will test whether a team that won its division last spring can stop spotting opponents two goals.
It will also test the front office’s patience. Mr. Hellebuyck’s suspension is set to end Friday, though there is no guarantee he is traded by then, Ms. Kaplan reported. If Mr. Kekalainen means what he said on the radio, the answer to Buffalo’s goaltending question is already on the roster, and the next four games are Mr. Luukkonen’s chance to prove it.
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