3 takeaways from the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins

The Buffalo Sabres were returning home after back-to-back road games against the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning, a stretch where they took three of four points. They were hoping to keep that momentum going in the final game before the Olympic break against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It looked like they were going to do just that as Jason Zucker gave the Sabres the early lead. However, after that, it was seemingly all Pittsburgh Penguins as they would build a 3-1 lead in the second and cruise to a 5-2 win over Buffalo.

These are some of the top takeaways from the game on Thursday night.

Disastrous night for Michael Kesselring and Jacob Bryson

The Buffalo Sabres went back to Michael Kesselring and Jacob Bryson as their third pair after Kesselring was a scratch against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Unfortunately, it was nothing short of a disaster, and the Sabres' coaching staff is going to have to give their blueline some serious thought during the Olympic break.

On Thursday night against the Penguins, Kesselring was on the ice for the first three Pittsburgh goals, while Bryson was on for two of them, according to Natural Stat Trick. What is amazing about this stat is that both players had less than 10 minutes of ice time the entire game with Bryson at 4:19 and Kesselring at only 7:56.

Recently, the team has relied heavily on their Top 4, no matter what combination the Sabres had on their third pair of Kesselring, Bryson, and Zach Metsa. This is not something that is sustainable, and after the break, this might need to be a focus for Jarmo Kekalainen to find a way to improve this third pair.

Buffalo Sabres really miss Zach Benson

This is the second game that the Buffalo Sabres were without Zach Benson after he suffered an upper-body injury against the Florida Panthers. For fans watching, it is clear that the Sabres miss Benson on the ice and what he brings to this game, and the win-loss record highlights that.

This season, Benson missed the first three games of the season due to an injury in practice and then missed 10 games in November. Entering tonight, the Sabres this season are 4-8-2 when Benson is not in line up but an impressive 28-10-4 when he is on the ice. The loss to the Penguins adds another to the loss column.

The good news is that Benson is expected to be back after the Olympic break, and hopefully, he can stay healthy and on the ice down the stretch because the Buffalo Sabres clearly need him.

Buffalo Sabres had their chances but just couldn't capitalize

The Buffalo Sabres jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with Jason Zucker beating Arturs Siovs less than two minutes into the first period. They controlled the flow of the game for the next five minutes or so and the Penguins didn't have many opportunities.

However, the Penguins tied it up on an Avery Hayes goal where he got behind Bryson, and the rookie would add another goal to give Pittsburgh the lead before the first intermission. Even though the Penguins had the lead going into the second, the Sabres still had plenty of chances but weren't able to make Pittsburgh pay.

Tage Thompson did score a power play goal in the third period, which is now the sixth straight game the Sabres have a power play goal, but the Sabres had four power play opportunities.

Outside of the power plays, there were chances this team had to make it a game, but couldn't connect. In the second period, there was a stretch where Peyton Krebs had an angle in close but shot it wide, and then shortly after, Tuch was behind the net and had a wide-open Tage Thompson in the slot, but the pass was just a little wide.

This felt like a game where the team was slightly off and not on the same page. It is a game the Sabres will like to forget, but unfortunately, they will have over two weeks before they are able to put it behind them.