The Buffalo Sabres and Utah Mammoth were both looking for a bounce-back game after ugly losses before Saturday's meeting. The Sabres had just lost 4-0 to the Dallas Stars, and the Utah Mammoth had just lost 6-1 on the road against the Boston Bruins.
Unfortunately for the Buffalo Sabres, it was the Utah Mammoth that got back on track as they would win 4-1 on Saturday. The Sabres started the game well and got the first goal of the game, which surprisingly was a power-play goal.
However, after that, it was all Utah as they scored before the end of the first period to tie it up, added two more in the second period, and scored an early goal in the third period that seemingly put the game out of reach.
These were four takeaways from the Buffalo Sabres loss to the Utah Mammoth.
Buffalo Sabres finally have a power play goal
One of the few bright spots in this game was that the Buffalo Sabres finally scored a power-play goal this season. It came in the first period when Tage Thompson was able to drive the net and sneak the puck in near post.
Tage Thompson, everyone. 😤 pic.twitter.com/5gS2nZwN22
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) October 10, 2026
Entering the game, the Sabres were 0-for-13 on power-play chances and were the last team in the NHL not to have a power-play goal. It is still going to be a work in progress but this game was a step in the right direction that hopefully they can build on.
Sabres just don't generate enough scoring chances against Mammoth
While the Buffalo Sabres did get the power-play goal, in general they just did not generate enough scoring chances in this game. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Sabres had 21 scoring chances in 5v5 situations, but seven of those came in the third period when the game felt out of reach. It was also well off the pace of the past three games, when they averaged 28.3 per game.
The Buffalo Sabres were without Konsta Helenius and Jiri Kulich for this game as Lindy Ruff seemingly tried to send a message to his team that they just weren't competing enough. It is hard to argue with the decision, especially early in the season for two younger players. However, there is no question that the Sabres were missing both of these players and would have helped in this area.
Colten Ellis earned himself another start
For the fourth time in five games, the Buffalo Sabres gave up four or more goals, but Colten Ellis was not the problem in this game. He finished the game stopping 26 of 30 shots, but some of these goals were just bad luck or unfortunate timing.
The first goal by Utah was off a long rebound where Barrett Hayton found Kailer Yamamoto sneaking in behind the defense for a wide-open goal. Then in the second period, Anders Lee would score, but Ellis was trying to stop the puck right in front of him without his stick, as it had been knocked out of his hands shortly before the play.
There has been plenty of questions about the goaltending for the Sabres to begin the season and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has struggled to begin the season. While Ellis did give up four goals, and it is tough to win when giving up that many, he made some good saves as well and looked more comfortable in net.
The Sabres have back-to-back games coming up so Ellis will get a start in at least one of those games regardless. However, the young goaltender is making a good case for himself to get a larger percentage of starts.
Sabres second period struggles continue
One of the big concerns for the Buffalo Sabres, especially in the past three games, is that they seem to have let the game slip away from them in the second period. In the game against Minnesota, the Sabres allowed two goals in the second period; against the Dallas Stars it was four, and on Saturday night it was two to Utah.
On the season, the Sabres have now been outscored 3 goals to 7 goals, and this is a major difference from last season. This was a strength of the Buffalo Sabres in 2025-26, as they finished the season outscoring their opponent 95 to 72.
The struggles in the second period didn't cost them a win against Minnesota but in their last two games, this was really where the game slipped away.
The Buffalo Sabres are now 2-3-0 on the season and will be playing the Florida Panthers Monday afternoon before hitting the road for a game against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.
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