The Buffalo Sabres were looking for their third straight win early in the season after back-to-back comeback wins against Chicago and Minnesota. On Thursday, it was the Dallas Stars standing in their way and unfortunately the Sabres had no answer for them as they lost 4-0 and were shut out for the first time this season.
The game was tight until about halfway through the second period as the Stars had only a 1-0 lead after Jason Robertson scored in the first period. However, the Sabres were not generating enough chances, and the Stars kept pressing to build their lead and Buffalo was never really able to get back into it.
When looking back at this game, these are three notable takeaways for the Buffalo Sabres in their 4-0 loss to Dallas.
Buffalo Sabres with notable line changes entering this game
The Buffalo Sabres made some significant changes to their lines entering this game, and it started with the top line. For the first time this season, Tage Thompson moved to the wing, and Lindy Ruff brought Jiri Kulich to play center with Peyton Krebs as the other player on this line.
Then, for the third line, Josh Norris was back at center with Ryan McLeod and Konsta Helenius while Josh Doan began the game on the fourth line. However, entering the third period and being down 4-0, Ruff went back to some of the lines they began the season with, as Thompson was back at center with Josh Norris and Josh Doan on either side of him.
It will be interesting to see what direction Lindy Ruff goes for the next game because the line of Krebs-Kulich-Thompson looked really good at the end of the game against Minnesota and might be worth another opportunity against Utah.
Another bad game from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
The noise around Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is only going to grow louder after another subpar performance on Thursday night. He finished the game only stopping 14 of 18 shots and has allowed three or more goals in each of his first three starts to begin the season.
For Luukkonen, he did a pretty good job in the first period, as the only goal he allowed was a one-timer by Jason Robertson on a 2-on-1 rush. Robertson is one of the best goal-scorers in the league and he knows how to get the puck in the back of the net.
However, the second period was when it kind of fell apart for the goalie as he let in a soft goal from the blueline to Sam Steel. It wasn't shot particularly well and was able to bounce off Luukkonen's stick and between his legs.
After that, he gave up a goal to Mikko Rantanen that was just bad luck as it bounced off the end boards, and Luukkonen went to the wrong side, and the final goal was scored by Roope Hintz with Dallas on the power play.
In a game where the Sabres are struggling to generating chances, they need their goalie to make some saves to help swing the momentum. Luukkonen has struggled to do this all season, including this game against Dallas.
Buffalo Sabres once again shut out on the power play
As disappointing as Luukkonen's performance was, it wouldn't have been as much of an issue if the Sabres could just figure out a way to get a power play goal. Entering this game, the Sabres are 0-for-10 and once again failed to convert, this time on three separate occassions.
For the Sabres, it isn't just that they haven't been able to score, but they aren't getting enough shots on net or giving themselves chances to score. According to Natural Stat Trick, in three power-play chances, the Sabres had only four shots on goal and two high-danger chances.
There was a lot of hope that the Sabres might finally figure out this power play after the work they did in the offseason. That hope is all but gone after their performance over the first four games of the season.
The Buffalo Sabres will be back on the ice Saturday night against the Utah Mammoth, who is coming off a tough loss in Boston by a final score of 6-0.
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