The Buffalo Sabres were unable to convert their scoring chances in a 3-0 defeat to the St. Louis Blues at KeyBank Center on Thursday. The loss ended a seven-game point streak for the Sabres, who had previously gone 3-0-4.
During the first period, the Sabres had an early opportunity to take the lead on a power play. Jack Quinn tried a between-the-legs shot and Josh Doan followed up with a rebound attempt, but both were stopped by Blues goaltender Joel Hofer. Shortly after, Mathieu Joseph scored shorthanded for St. Louis following a turnover at their blue line.
“We missed some early opportunities that I think could have changed the game,” head coach Lindy Ruff said. “Probably the best one was the Doan opportunity on the power play. We put that in, we’re not talking about a shorthanded goal (against).”
Despite outshooting St. Louis 28-17, Buffalo could not solve Hofer or get past the Blues’ defense, which blocked 19 shots and limited quality chances on three Sabres power plays.
“I’ll give them some credit, they did a pretty darn good job of being in shot lanes and blocking shots,” Ruff added.
The Sabres generated several close chances throughout the game. Michael Kesselring was denied by Hofer’s glove late in the first period and Alex Tuch had a point-blank attempt stopped in the second. Rasmus Dahlin hit both the post and crossbar during separate attempts as Buffalo pressed for goals.
“I hate to talk about luck and (being) unlucky,” Dahlin said. “You got to earn your goals, and today it wasn’t going in. So maybe some more guys hit the net, distracting the goalie a little bit more. Yeah, should’ve scored a couple more.”
Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made his third start of the season for Buffalo, allowing two goals on 16 shots faced. Nick Bjugstad increased St. Louis’ lead early in the second period with Luukkonen screened by his own defenseman.
“I’ve got to save that,” Luukkonen said. “I don’t know what the right word for it is, but I didn’t catch it or didn’t see it clean. Our D-man’s stick was there, he played it right, that’s how you have to play it. But sometimes that fools you and it kind of handcuffed me, so, not happy about it. I guess it’s not as easy a situation as it looks.”
Buffalo continued to press in the third period but could not score before Justin Faulk sealed St. Louis’ win with an empty-net goal.
The Sabres played without five opening night starters at forward due to injuries: Josh Norris (top-line center), Zach Benson (assist leader), Jason Zucker and Jiri Kulich (top goal-scoring threats), among others. None are expected back for Saturday’s game against Carolina.
“[The Hurricanes] don’t give up a lot, so when we get our opportunities, we’re gonna have to bear down and we’re gonna have to put some in the back of the net,” Tuch said.
“I liked our compete (tonight). I thought we were playing fast. I thought we were the better team tonight. They were able to lock it down, block some shots and get some big saves from the goalie.”
Due to injuries among forwards, Buffalo made changes on its power-play units but went scoreless over eight opportunities across three games.
“We got new bodies, new guys in new positions,” Dahlin said regarding adjustments on special teams. “We’re trying to figure it out. A lot of guys injured. Obviously, don’t want to talk about guys who are out, but I think we just got to build our own chemistry, and we have work on it.”
Tyson Kozak returned from injury after missing five games; he centered a line with Quinn and Jordan Greenway and recorded four hits over 10:10 of ice time.
Buffalo will begin a four-game road trip Saturday against Carolina with coverage starting at 6:30 p.m., puck drop at 7 p.m.
