Sabres focus on execution following loss to Utah

Lindy Ruff pointed to lack of execution as the deciding factor in the Buffalo Sabres’ 5-2 loss to the Utah Hockey Club at KeyBank Center on Saturday.

The Sabres led 1-0 after 20 minutes on Tyson Kozak’s first NHL goal, but Utah scored three goals and generated a 13-5 advantage in shots during the second period to gain control of the game.

The loss extended the Sabres’ winless streak to six games (0-4-2). Ruff cited the number of offside whistles as a microcosm of the small details that proved costly.

“My job is to get them out of it,” the Sabres coach said. “That’s my job. That’s on me, to get them out of it, to stay with the process. Don’t deviate. Even just that small play, don’t go offside. I mean, this is mentally one of the weakest games I’ve seen, where you go offside that number of times. You don’t execute the small plays.”

Michael Kesselring scored Utah’s first goal 3:18 into the second period with a high shot from the blue line. The goal was preceded by an unsuccessful clearing attempt from the Sabres, which allowed Utah to maintain possession in the offensive zone.

Utah took the lead 24 seconds later when forward Michael Carcone drove to the Buffalo net and was hit into goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen by Sabres defenseman Dennis Gilbert, who was attempting to prevent a scoring chance. The collision sent Luukkonen down to the ice, which left the net open for Mikhail Sergachev to score the go-ahead goal.

Nick Schmaltz extended the Utah lead to 3-1 with 51.5 seconds remaining in the period. Kesselring deked his way toward the Buffalo net and passed across to Schmaltz, who was stopped by Luukkonen on his initial attempt but pounced on the rebound after it fell in the blue paint.

During their current winless streak, the Sabres have outscored opponents 8-2 in first periods but have been outscored 8-0 in second periods.

“I think we’re starting games really well and I don’t know if it’s a bit of complacency or what it is, but we’ve got to fix the second periods,” forward Jason Zucker said. "It seems like we come out in the third and get a bit of that fire back and start playing again. We’ve got to fix it.”

The Sabres outshot Utah 13-5 over the final 20 minutes but saw their deficit grow larger just 2:11 into the period when – following an unsuccessful odd-man rush by the Sabres at the other end of the ice – Logan Cooley set up Jack McBain for a goal from in front of the net. Kevin Stenlund added the final Utah goal on a shot from the right faceoff dot with 7:53 remaining.

Jiri Kulich buried a rebound for Buffalo’s second goal with 2:20 left to play.

Zucker echoed Ruff in saying that the Sabres can escape their current rut by executing consistently within their system. They were 7-2-0 in the nine games prior to their current winless streak, which has included tightly contested losses to established playoff contenders in Minnesota, Vancouver, and Winnipeg.

“We just need to get back to executing the way we know how to,” Zucker said. “It’s not a care thing, this room cares. This room has a lot of guys that care and want to do the right thing. It’s about doing it time and time again.”

He added: “Execution doesn’t mean making backdoor passes and scoring beautiful goals. It means playing the system the right way, it’s being on your guy when you’ve got a guy blocking shots when it’s your turn being net-front. All the aspects of the game all drive the execution piece of it and that’s what we’re not doing."

Here’s more from the loss.

1. Beck Malenstyn delivered a pass through traffic on the rush to set up Kozak’s first NHL goal, which gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead midway through the first period.

Dennis Gilbert initiated the sequence with a breakout stretch pass to Malenstyn, earning the secondary assist for his first point as a member of the Sabres. Gilbert had previously assisted on Kozak’s goal Thursday against Winnipeg, which was overturned following a successful coach’s challenge for goaltender interference.

Kozak skated 12:08 in his second NHL game. The Sabres did not allow a high-danger chance when he was on the ice at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick.

2. Gilbert and Malenstyn finished the game with seven hits apiece, including a hard hit by Malenstyn on Kesselring that prompted the two players to fight during the second period.

3. The Sabres were without captain Rasmus Dahlin for the second straight game. Dahlin left Tuesday’s loss to Colorado with back spasms and was still being evaluated as of Saturday morning, Ruff said.

Up next

The homestand continues against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday. Tickets are available here.

Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7.