BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Buffalo Sabres' players didn't sound defeated after their 4-0 loss to the Rangers on opening night. Goalie Alex Lyon thought the team played a "winning brand of hockey" by limiting scoring chances and playing a "grinding game." Jason Zucker and Rasmus Dahlin were quick to not make too much of one game in a long season.
"We have 81 left, guys," Dahlin said. "We just have to keep growing. We have something really good going on here. If we just got one, the game would have looked way different. It's unfortunate. We learn from it and grow."
Added Zucker: "I would have bet a lot of money, probably all of my money, that we weren't going to go 82-0. We'll look at it that way and that we're going to be fine and go in and try to put the same game on the ice and shore up the things we didn't like. If we play with that speed and tenacity, our structure was pretty good overall. I don't think we gave them a lot of wide-open looks. We didn't turn pucks over. We did a lot of good things. We need to take the positives, look at the negatives and learn from them and move on."
The Sabres didn't play quite as poorly as that 4-0 score indicates. With just over five minutes left in the third period, the Sabres were still down just 1-0. That's when a turnover led to a Carson Soucy goal. The Rangers scored two more goals in the final five minutes to run away with a 4-0 win.
But the Sabres did play a tightly contested game. At five-on-five, the high-danger scoring chances were even at four apiece, which underscores what a low-event game this was. But the Sabres didn't handle the small details of the game well enough. Lindy Ruff noted that his team was chasing the puck too often early in the game. They needed some big early saves from Lyon to stay afloat in the first period. The Rangers also won 67 percent of the faceoffs, and Buffalo's passing was off throughout.
"We weren't puck sharp," Ruff said.
That's part of why the Sabres went 0-4 on the power play, adding to a lingering concern from last season. They had 37 shots on Igor Shesterkin, but only five of those were high-danger shots, according to Natural Stat Trick.
This could be just one frustrating game to start the season. The Rangers came in with one game under their belt. Maybe the Sabres will be a bit sharper in Game 2 and beyond. But the Sabres also came in with a long list of injuries, and it grew.
- Throughout training camp and the preseason, Josh Norris was one of the Sabres' best players. Ruff is counting on him to be the team's top center. The one question with Norris has been whether he'll be able to stay healthy. That concern was front and center when Norris didn't finish the game. After taking a faceoff with just under five minutes to play, Norris went down in pain and struggled to get to the bench. Ruff described the injury as an upper-body injury.
"He didn't finish the game, so I'm going to say that's not a good sign," Ruff said. - Norris came to the Sabres at the trade deadline last season but played only three games before missing the rest of the season with an oblique injury. He has missed 132 games over the last three seasons after struggling with shoulder injuries.
- The Sabres can't afford to be without Norris for an extended period of time. Jiri Kulich filled in on the top line at center last season, but the scoring depth is a lot stronger if he's lower in the lineup. This team doesn't have the center depth to withstand this type of loss.
- Zach Benson had to watch the Sabres' season opener from the hospital. Benson took a puck to the face during practice Wednesday and got a cut. Complications from that cut landed Benson in the hospital. Ruff said he expects Benson to be discharged from the hospital today.
"Just chalk it up as this bizarre stuff that's been happening to us this preseason," Ruff said. - With Benson out, Peyton Krebs, who is typically the fourth-line center, filled in at left wing on the first line to start the game. Ruff later tried Jason Zucker on that line and moved Krebs back down the lineup. Krebs was on the ice for two goals against later in the game.
- Owen Power also missed this game with an illness he's been dealing with the last couple of days. The Sabres were already without Michael Kesselring, so that left them short two of their top four defenseman. Both Jacob Bryson and Ryan Johnson drew into the lineup and played on a pair. That pair was on the ice for the Rangers’ first goal, which is the one that allowed them to pack it in and play a defensive game the rest of the way. Alexis Lafrenière got behind Bryson to get position in front of the net and won the battle for the loose puck.
- When Johnson and Bryson were on the ice at five-on-five, the Rangers had a 7-0 advantage in scoring chances, including a 3-0 advantage in high-danger scoring chances.
- Lyon gave the Sabres a chance to hang in the game. He had two big saves in the first five minutes and then another key save on the Rangers’ first power play. Lyon said the late Soucy goal is one that he wants back. That is the one that caused the game to slip away. Lyon made 29 saves on the 32 shots he faced, and the Sabres limited the Rangers to four high-danger chances. It was a decent debut for Lyon, but the Sabres will need consistency from him while they deal with early-season injuries.