It's exceedingly rare for Rasmus Dahlin to have an off night as negatively impactful as Wednesday night against the Ottawa Senators, and his unfathomable decision to make a risky pinch late in the third period is the main reason the Buffalo Sabres suffered a 2-1 loss.
Dahlin was caught in no man's land as Sens forward Tim Stutzle easily chipped the puck past the Sabres defenseman, and six seconds later the puck was in the back of Buffalo's net.
"The biggest thing that gets us in trouble is some of the high-risk, I think some decisions," head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters. "He made a couple tough decisions tonight that sometimes he can turn those into goals. Sometimes it turns into something bad. Tonight wasn't good."
Every NHL player has an occasional poor performance over the course of an 84-game season. In this case, Dahlin didn't process the game at his usual elite level and his skating was sluggish all night, a combination that constantly put him behind the play.
The team's captain isn't the only player who deserves blame for the lackluster outing, though. Buffalo's offense was once again ineffective, with the club's only goal coming off an unintended deflection by Peyton Krebs on a Tage Thompson shot.
In addition, the Sabres' defensive tendency to leave players standing wide open around the crease burned them again as the Senators' first goal came off a faceoff play where they generated two clean looks from close range, the second one from Shane Pinto beating goalie Colten Ellis.
Buffalo's effort just wasn't good enough across the board, and it probably would have been a more lopsided result if not for the strong play of Ellis (28 saves on 30 shots).
It's certainly not what Ruff and his coaching staff wanted to see after a three-game West Coast swing when it seemed like the club was turning a corner after a slow start. Instead, it's right back to the drawing board as part of an insanely competitive Atlantic Division.
The Sabres will look to bounce back Friday night when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Meanwhile, let's check out the latest addition to our Sabres player grades series after a game they'll be happy to leave in the rearview mirror.
Buffalo Sabres lay an egg in home loss to the Ottawa Senators
Sabres Player Grades
Player | Grade (1-10) |
|---|---|
Colten Ellis | 8 |
Peyton Krebs | 6 |
Zach Benson | 5.5 |
Mattias Samuelsson | 5.5 |
Tage Thompson | 5 |
Owen Power | 5 |
Sam Carrick | 5 |
Olen Zellweger | 4.5 |
Beck Malenstyn | 4.5 |
Josh Doan | 4.5 |
Noah Ostlund | 4 |
Jack Quinn | 4 |
Tyson Kozak | 3.5 |
Louis Crevier | 3.5 |
Josh Norris | 3 |
Ryan McLeod | 2.5 |
Jason Zucker | 2.5 |
Rasmus Dahlin | 2 |
Zach Metsa | 2 |
Buffalo Player of the Game: Colten Ellis
Early in the season, it felt like if the Sabres could get their goaltending back to league average (or better) everything would work out just fine. Ellis and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen were both struggling while Alex Lyon, who's now nearing a return, was sidelined by injury.
That's not how it worked out, though. UPL and Ellis have both played better recently, at least enough to keep the team in games, and the Buffalo offense has often come up short.
The former St. Louis Blues prospect made several close-range saves against the Sens on Wednesday, giving the Sabres every opportunity to build on their 1-0 lead. They couldn't, and Ottawa capitalized with a pair of late goals to steal the two points.
It'll be interesting to see how Ruff divides the starts once Lyon is cleared because Ellis deserves a chance to start on a semi-regular basis.
Sabres Quick Hits
- Krebs' goal was a result of going to the top of the crease and creating havoc, something he should be doing on a far more frequent basis.
- Mattias Samuelsson had five blocked shots. No other Sabre had more than one.
- Josh Doan showed a little more juice in his game against the Sens, perhaps a sign he's finally moving past an early-season injury.
- The complete lack of impact from Ryan McLeod and Josh Norris remains a massive concern.
- Buffalo and Columbus are scheduled for a 7 p.m. ET faceoff Friday night at the KeyBank Center.
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