Buffalo Sabres: 5 most heartbreaking road losses in 2022-23
The Buffalo Sabres were a successful team on the road. But that didn’t stop them from losing a few heartbreakers in their opponents’ arenas.
It’s always refreshing to see teams improve to the point that the real challenge involves finding enough (road) heartbreakers to fit into a single article. And while the Buffalo Sabres had more than a few frustrating losses this season, only a few occurred outside KeyBank Center.
Below, you will relive five games that, had things turned out differently, could have catapulted the Blue and Gold into the playoffs this past season. But then again, we also know the Sabres won a few games that they probably shouldn’t have, so I guess at the end of the day (or season), it evens things out. Anyway, let’s check out these five games.
Most heartbreaking road losses for the 2022-23 Buffalo Sabres
5 – Sabres squander two-goal lead in third period to Blackhawks
I remember saying to myself that the Sabres were “just 20 short minutes from yet another big win over the Chicago Blackhawks.” Then things started to unravel at the 1:34 mark of the third frame, when Philipp Kurashev scored to bring Chicago within one goal.
But it also looked like Buffalo would hang on, as no one scored over the next 18-and-a-half minutes before Seth Jones scored at the 19:04 mark, forcing an overtime frame. Jones struck again halfway through overtime, ending the Sabres chances of getting back on track during what looked like a tumultuous January.
But if there was one positive from this game, Buffalo ironically GOT their act together afterward, as they finished the month 5-0-1. And if you’re looking for what happened during that one overtime loss to end January, look no further than the next game on this list.
4 – Sabres lose in a shootout to the Wild
The Buffalo Sabres took an early lead thanks to Jack Quinn scoring unassisted, but Joel Eriksson answered with a power play goal to tie the game at the 3:35 mark. Zemgus Girgensons broke through to score at the 9:50 mark of the second, but Jared Spurgeon answered fewer than three minutes later.
After a scoreless third period, the game went into overtime, where neither Buffalo nor Minnesota could score the game-winner. Minnesota went on to have three successful penalty shots in a row and it was enough for them to escape with the win.
3 – Sabres blow three leads to Washington
When you’re in the playoff hunt for as long as the Buffalo Sabres were, you can call yourself a good hockey team. But when you’re also a young hockey team, you’re also going to be a flawed group, and that was the Blue and Gold in 2022-23. Blowing two-goal leads was probably the most frustrating recurring theme with this group, and it was on notorious display on March 15th against the Washington Capitals.
Ilya Lyubushkin and J.J. Peterka scored in the game’s first nine minutes, and Tyson Jost scored at the 18:06 mark to give Buffalo a 3-1 lead. After a scoreless second frame, the Sabres and Capitals traded goals within the first six minutes of the third period, giving Buffalo a 5-3 lead.
But Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson scored at the 10:30 and 18:52 marks, respectively, to force overtime. Once again, we saw a scoreless extra frame, but the Capitals scored twice during the shootout, which prevented the Sabres from stringing together back-to-back wins for the first time in March.
2 – Devon Levi’s stellar performance wasn’t enough to beat Florida
After a successful NHL debut, Devon Levi started his first game on the road on April 4th in a matchup against the Florida Panthers, the team that drafted him. And you couldn’t have asked for a better game from Levi, who posted a 0.944 save percentage, stopping 34 of 36 shots on goal and showing the Panthers why it was a mistake to trade him.
Problem was, the Buffalo Sabres couldn’t score, despite logging 40 shots on goal. For the third highest-scoring team in the league, you would have thought that, with Levi holding Florida to a pair of goals, this would have been a win, but instead, the Sabres saw their playoff hopes take a major blow.
1 – Devils sink Sabres playoff hopes
Speaking of lost playoff hopes, that became a reality when the Sabres played the New Jersey Devils on April 11th. In short, Buffalo had to win out if they wanted to make the playoffs, and following that heartbreaking loss to Florida, they were doing just that, including a pair of shootout wins in the process.
Then they fell into a 3-1 hole against the Devils heading into the third frame. But as a high-scoring team who excelled on the road, it’s easy to understand why we had hope the Sabres could claw their way back into this one. Only they didn’t, as Tomas Tatar scored at the 7:10 mark in the third period, before Mattias Samuelsson brought the Sabres back within two goals with just under seven minutes remaining.
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It wouldn’t be enough, though, as Buffalo had no choice but to empty the net and hope for a miracle. But Tatar and Jack Hughes scored on a pair of empty-netters, which extended the Sabres playoff drought for at least one more season.
(Historical data provided by Hockey-Reference)