The Buffalo Sabres were back home after a three-game road trip to play the Philadelphia Flyers before heading right back on the road for four straight games. The Sabres entered the game hoping to extend their streak to five straight games with a point and they were getting some help with that objective with the return of Rasmus Dahlin and the debut of Jason Zucker.
Unfortunately, it was more of the same for this Buffalo Sabres team as they would fall behind by multiple goals, giving up two goals in the first period. In the second, they cut into that lead with a power play goal but the Flyers answered in the third to extend the lead back to two.
While the Sabres have been good at making comebacks, they were not able to make it happen on Wednesday night and lost 3-1 to the Flyers and these are some of the takeaways from that game.
Buffalo Sabres have a power play in the first period that should gives fans hope
It's no secret that the Buffalo Sabres' power play has been bad this year, as they rank 31st in the league with a power play percentage of only 9.1%. However, the first power play of this game showed what this group could do and give fans hope that the power play might at least become serviceable.
The Sabres got the man advantage early in this game after Simon Benoit was called for a penalty. This would mark the return of Rasmus Dahlin to the top power-play unit, as he was back on the ice for the first time in three games.
During this two-minute power play, the Sabres did an excellent job moving the puck and, in turn, getting the Flyers out of position. They had some great chances, including Noah Ostlund up close and trying to beat Dan Vladar with a shot between his legs.
In the end, it didn't result in a goal, but they put four shots on net, and if they play like this a majority of their power plays, the goals will come.
Ugly finish to a rather promising first period for the Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres looked good to open the game and were putting pressure on Dan Vladar and the Flyers while controlling the pace for most of the period. Unfortunately, they didn't keep that pressure on, and it was a disastrous finish to the period for Buffalo.
While the Sabres outshot the Flyers 16 to 9 in the first period, it would be Philadelphia who would score the first goal of the game after Oliver Bonk took a shot from the blueline and Cole Knuble was able to get in front of the net to score on the rebound.
Shortly after that, the Sabres had a chance to tie it up by going on the power play, but they didn't even get the full two minutes as Noah Ostlund was called for slashing. The two teams would go to 4v4 for about 40 seconds before the Flyers went on their own power play.
On the power play, the Flyers would score once again with a little over 40 seconds left in the period to take a 2-0 lead.
While that is what the score would be going into the first intermission, the Sabres would make one more big mistake as they had a turnover at center ice. The Flyers turned it into a great scoring chance before Jack Quinn dove to hit the puck away, but he would be called for tripping with one second left.
Even though the scoreboard didn't show it, the Sabres had a pretty good period but unfortunately for the sixth time this season left the first period down to their opponent.
Jason Zucker makes season debut with a power-play goal
The second period felt like more bad luck for the Buffalo Sabres as they would hit two posts early in the period, once by Zach Benson on a short-handed opportunity from the penalty that carried over from the first period and then later by Jack Quinn.
The Flyers would get a gift from the refs later in the period when Owen Power would be called for a high stick but clearly the Flyers player was hit by his teammate's stick. However, since it was only a two-minute minor, it couldn't be reviewed, and the Sabres had to kill off a 5v3 power play.
Then almost immediately after the power play expired, the Flyers would be called for a high stick to give the Sabres their own power play chance. The Sabres were finally able to get on the board thanks to the returning Jason Zucker, who would score the Sabres first goal of the game.
Zucker missed the start of the season due to offseason surgery and made his season debut on Wednesday night. He has been a big part of their power play the past two seasons and is well on his way to making it three straight seasons with double-digit power-play goals.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen still searching for a game with fewer than three goals allowed
It wasn't necessarily a bad performance by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen but it also wasn't good enough for the Sabres to get the win. On Wednesday against the Flyers, it was his seventh start of the season, and for the seventh time this season, he allowed three or more goals.
The Sabres goalie finished stopping 23 of 26 shots, and while he allowed three goals, none of them should be considered soft. Rather it was just more so bad bounces and bad positioning for the Sabres' goalie. The first goal by the Flyers was a rebound off a long shot, the second was by Trevor Zegras on a power play that he was able to swat the puck out of the air off a rebound.
Philadelphia's third goal came in the third period when Cole Knuble was able to take advantage of Luukkonen being slightly out of position and instead of bringing the puck around the back of the net, banked it off the back of Luukkonen's skate for his second goal of the night.
Until Connor Hellebuyck is traded, the rumors are going to persist for the Buffalo Sabres, and performances like the one Luukkonen had are not going to quiet the noise much.
The Sabres will be a few days between games as their next will be on Saturday night against the Washington Capitals, which will be the first game againt former teammate Alex Tuch after he was part of a sign-and-trade to go to Washington.
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