The Buffalo Sabres' offense has been virtually nonexistent in the first period this season, scoring just six goals in 10 games, and head coach Lindy Ruff is growing tired of the slow starts.
Buffalo allowed the only goal in the opening frame of a 4-3 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night as Yegor Chinakhov took advantage of an Owen Power turnover in the defensive zone. The Sabres generated just nine shots in the first 20 minutes.
"I think we thought the game was a 7:18 [p.m.] start, and it was 6:45; unacceptable, the way we started," Ruff told reporters. "I thought we came to life with about five, six minutes left in the period, but when you're not skating, you have no hands. Our passing was awful. We couldn't make a 10-foot pass, we couldn't make a 30-foot pass. When we got our legs going and started going north in a hurry, we started looking like a lot better team."
The Blue and Gold played better over the final two periods, and they held a 3-2 lead midway through the final frame. Miles Wood tied the game late for Columbus, however, and Wood struck again in overtime to give the Jackets a hard-fought road win.
Josh Doan, Ryan McLeod and Josh Dunne scored the goals for Buffalo. Let's dive in to the latest installment of our Sabres grades series as the team's record stands at 4-4-2.
Josh Dunne, Alex Lyon receive highest marks for the Buffalo Sabres in Oct. 28 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets
Sabres player grades
Player | Grade (1-10) |
|---|---|
Josh Dunne | 8.5 |
Alex Lyon | 8 |
Josh Doan | 7.5 |
Alex Tuch | 7 |
Beck Malenstyn | 6.5 |
Ryan McLeod | 6.5 |
Peyton Krebs | 6 |
Mattias Samuelsson | 5.5 |
Bowen Byram | 5.5 |
Michael Kesselring | 5 |
Conor Timmins | 5 |
Rasmus Dahlin | 4.5 |
Owen Power | 4 |
Jack Quinn | 4 |
Noah Ostlund | 3.5 |
Jason Zucker | 3 |
Tage Thompson | 3 |
Jiri Kulich | 2.5 |
Zach Benson | 2 |
Buffalo Player of the Game: Josh Dunne
Dunne, who made 14 appearances for Columbus between 2021 and 2023, netted first NHL goal in his 20th career game. It was far from the only standout moment of the night for the fourth-line forward, who was a constant presence in front of the net in his 13 minutes of ice time.
The Sabres have received terrific contributions from their bottom six so far this season. The 26-year-old Missouri native joins a list that was previously headlined by Tyson Kozak, who'd established himself as a workhorse at the bottom of the lineup before suffering a lower-body injury.
Dunne has stepped up to fill that void. Beck Malenstyn has also started playing a lot better over the past week following a sluggish start to the campaign, so Buffalo is really benefiting from effective minutes by niche role players.
Ruff will soon need to make a tough decision about who to remove from the group for Jordan Greenway, who's closing in on his season debut after offseason surgery. Dunne is making a strong case to remain on the lineup card, at least for the time being.
Sabres quick hits
- Alex Lyon, who's been the team's best player to this point in the 2025-26 season, kept the Sabres in the game during their awful start, so he still received high marks despite a relatively mundane stat line (35 saves on 39 shots; .897 save percentage).
- Another fantastic performance from Doan.
- Bowen Byram has been a lot more noticeable in recent games as he attempts to activate his offensive skill set on a more consistent basis.
- Michael Kesselring had a solid debut, and he should improve as he gets back up to game speed.
- Ruff should consider changing his defense pairs after some chemistry issues against Columbus.
- It's rare to see Tage Thompson and Zach Benson make such minimal impacts in the same game.
- Next up for the Sabres is already their second visit to TD Garden this season as they'll face the Boston Bruins on Thursday night (7 p.m. ET). Boston won the first meeting, 3-1.