Even though the Buffalo Sabres had momentum coming off a 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers, they were facing a tough task on Tuesday night against the Montreal Canadiens. They would be facing the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last season, playing them on the road in the second game of a back-to-back, and they were going to have to do all this without their captain.
The Sabres knew yesterday that they would not have Rasmus Dahlin for this game after suffering an injury against the Panthers and not traveling with the team. Any time Dahlin is not playing, the Sabres have struggled and since the 2024-25 season, they are 1-10-4 now after the shootout loss to Montreal.
He wasn't the only defenseman the Sabres would be without, as they announced that Matt Grzelcyk was placed on injured reserve and the team would recall Dennis Gilbert, who made his season debut.
On Tuesday night, the Sabres opened the scoring with an early goal in the first period. However, the Canadiens responded with three straight and had a 3-1 lead going into the third period. Fortunately, the Sabres responded with two goals a little over a minute apart that pushed it to overtime.
Neither team could break the tie in the extra period but it was basically all Montreal in the shootout as they scored on all three of their chances and the Sabres on only one. These are a few takeaways from the game on Tuesday night
Olen Zellweger scores first (and second) goal with Buffalo Sabres
While the Sabres didn't have Rasmus Dahlin, Olen Zellweger was trying his best to fill that void and did a pretty good job of it. He would open up the scoring for Buffalo with a goal in the first period, which was the first time he had scored as a member of the Sabres.
However, he wasn't done there as he would draw a penalty in the second period and give the Sabres a great scoring chance by passing the puck into the crease. Then, in the third period, he scored the game-tying goal for his second goal of the season.
This was a big opportunity for Zellweger being paired with Mattias Samuelsson, and he certainly made the most of it, and the Sabres benefited from it.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen delivers his best performance of the season
This has not been the start to the season that Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen wanted but he has slowly started to turn it around over the past two days. On Monday, Luukkonen replaced Colten Ellis midway through the game against the Panthers and finished by stopping 13 of 14 shots.
He was back in net on Tuesday night for the Sabres against the Canadiens, and when the Sabres weren't playing their best, Luukkonen did an incredible job keeping them in the game. It started early when Luukkonen made this incredible glove save on the Canadiens' odd-man rush.
LUUUUUUUK! 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/3w6x114OF0
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) October 13, 2026
It was then in the final seconds of the third period that Luukkonen basically saved a point for the Sabres as he stopped a shot by Phillip Danault right in front of the net with about three seconds left to force overtime.
While he did allow three goals, there really wasn't a bad goal he allowed. He finished the game stopping 35 of 38 shots he faced and was one of the reasons the Sabres were able to mount the comeback they did in the third.
Buffalo Sabres struggle once again in the second period
One thing that has been pretty consistent throughout every game to start this season is that the Buffalo Sabres have struggled in the second period. Entering the game on Tuesday against Montreal, the Canadiens had been outscored 11 goals to four, and the Sabres once again saw the game start to slip away in that period as the Canadiens would score two.
While the Sabres have been outscored, they had done a pretty good job getting shots on net in the second period and were outshooting their opponents 56-40 prior to Tuesday night. However, the Sabres weren't even able to get much in terms of shots as they had only two the entire period, compared to the Canadiens 11.
The Sabres have to figure out a way to start winning the second period so they don't have to play from behind in the third period.
Another empty night from the Buffalo Sabres' power play
After the Buffalo Sabres had three power-play goals in the prior two games, they once again struggled with the man advantage. They finished the game with zero goals on five power-play chances.
There is no question that the absence of Rasmus Dahlin was a big factor in their struggles. He has one power-play goal and one power-play assist, but he can't be the only reason they struggled the way they did. The Sabres finished the game with only four power-play shots over five chances and even one power-play goal could have gotten them two points instead of one.
The Sabres will be off Wednesday before the second game in this road trip against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday before they are right back in Montreal for a game Saturday night.
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