The Buffalo Sabres fell to the Boston Bruins 3-1 on Saturday night at TD Garden, a result that coach Lindy Ruff attributed to a lack of intensity from his team.
“We have to just raise our level of compete,” Ruff said after the game. “I thought our compete was terrible. Worst competing, skating, moving feet that I’ve seen.”
For the second straight game, Buffalo struggled in the opening period. The Bruins outshot the Sabres 17-2 in the first, and Pavel Zacha’s goal put Boston ahead early. Most of the period saw Buffalo pinned in its own zone.
“It just wasn’t good enough,” forward Jason Zucker said. “We weren’t winning battles. We weren’t skating. I don’t think we were supporting each other enough; we were a little too far apart offensively. I think we were throwing pucks away. We’re not making many plays offensively right now.”
Ruff added: “It’s not the guy that has the puck, it’s the guy away from it. I thought we played some 1-on-1 hockey.”
Goaltender Alex Lyon kept Buffalo in contention with several key saves, stopping 57 of 62 shots over his first two games with a .919 save percentage. He denied Fraser Minten on a breakaway and made an important glove save against Elias Lindholm before Boston extended its lead in the second period.
“He’s played great,” Ruff said. “I thought the first period was all Alex, really.”
“I think Lyon’s playing very well – a lot to be happy about there,” Zucker added. “Very impressed with his game. He’s held us in both games, in a lot of ways.”
Zucker scored Buffalo’s only goal midway through the third period when his shot deflected off a defenseman and past Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman. The Sabres increased their offensive pressure late but could not tie the score.
“When we just started getting pucks to the net, even from tough angles, we got some bounces – we had (Peyton) Krebs in the slot alone, we had [Rasmus Dahlin] in the slot alone that we didn’t connect on,” Ruff said.
“We’re too much on the fancy side. Until we put the boots on, go to work and realize that the only way you’re gonna win hockey games in this league is outwork the other team…”
After two losses to open their season, players acknowledged they need more urgency from puck drop.
“It falls on me; it falls on all the older guys on the team and the guys that have played for a few years now,” Zucker said. “The urgency has got to be there. From a mindset standpoint, I feel that we’re saying the right things. We’re not executing properly right now.”
Josh Doan was among Buffalo’s most active forwards during Saturday’s game, drawing a penalty and recording three shots over 16 minutes of ice time. As Buffalo pressed for offense late in regulation, Doan was moved up to play alongside Tage Thompson and Jiri Kulich.
“He worked hard,” Ruff said about Doan’s performance and promotion during the game. “Moved him up. The guys I thought were going, I tried to get them in a better position to help us out. I think some of those changes helped.”
Buffalo will look to regroup as they prepare for their home opener against Colorado on Monday afternoon.
“It’s certainly gonna be a test; I think everybody knows who we’ve got coming in the building in less than 48 hours,” Lyon said.
“When you’ve got a day off into a day game, you have to prepare the right way. And a lot of times in those day games, whoever is prepared the most, often does well.”
Tickets for Monday’s game are available here.
