Tage Thompson addressed unfinished business with Stefan Noesen during the Buffalo Sabres’ first meeting of the season against the New Jersey Devils, stemming from a hit by Noesen in February that left Thompson with a concussion. Several teammates offered to confront Noesen, but Thompson chose to handle it himself.
“It’s a nice thing that everyone wanted to do it,” Thompson said. “I figured I’d take care my own business.”
Thompson fought Noesen early in the game, which energized both the crowd at KeyBank Center and the Sabres bench. Despite this, Buffalo was unable to generate offense and lost 5-0.
The Sabres outshot the Devils 42-23 but were repeatedly denied by goaltender Jake Allen, who recorded his first shutout of the season.
“I thought there was a lot of energy on the bench, and I thought our team was playing well,” Thompson said. “I thought we controlled the first two periods pretty handily. Obviously, the score didn’t indicate that, but I thought we had a lot of chances, a lot of opportunities.
“I think whatever energy or whatever momentum we did kind of have early in the game kind of got snuffed out by their goalie, who was playing a hell of a game. It’s frustrating when you’re getting chances and looks and they’re not going in, especially when you feel like they should.”
This loss marks two consecutive regulation defeats for Buffalo after returning to .500 with a win over Carolina last Sunday. The team will travel next to face Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
The Devils took an initial lead late in the first period following a sequence where Timo Meier intercepted Bowen Byram’s pass behind Buffalo’s net; Nico Hischier finished off the play for New Jersey’s opening goal. Arseny Gritsyuk added another midway through the second period.
“The first 40 minutes, we had opportunities to put the puck in the back of the net,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “We missed those opportunities. The opportunities we gave them on a couple of our poor plays, they took advantage of.”
Buffalo increased its offensive pressure in the third period but allowed more goals as Brenden Dillon and Paul Cotter extended New Jersey’s lead before Gritsyuk scored again late in regulation.
“They’re an opportunistic team,” Thompson said. “We give up a couple of opportunities, and it’s in the back of our net. Yeah, it was just a frustrating game. I don’t really think the score really tells the full story of how we played. I liked our game.
“Obviously, you can’t sit there and say you like a 5-0 loss, but I thought we did a lot of good things, and obviously came out on the wrong side of it.”
Regarding his fight with Noesen, Thompson explained: “I think we all know what happened last year,” he said. “I didn’t really like the hit, and talked to him in warmups, (he) said he would give me one. I respect that.”
Noesen’s previous hit caused internal discussions within Buffalo about their response to physical play last season; Ruff noted improvement since then: “As a team, we’re in a pretty good place when it comes to responding and doing the right thing,” Ruff said. “It’s something they’ve dealt with on their own.” He added: “That’s the guy that hit him, [and]the fact he wanted to go after him I thought was great.”
Goaltender Alex Lyon started for Buffalo for his first time since November 13th after spending two weeks working on aspects of his game during practice due to being part of Buffalo’s three-goalie rotation—a system adopted while Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen recovered from injuries earlier this season.
“I didn’t feel too bad,” Lyon said after making 18 saves on 23 shots faced. “Game probably felt better than the score…it’s been a while since I won…just disappointing obviously and I’ve got to find a way to do a little bit more.”
Ruff commented on managing three goalies: “I’ve always said that it’s not an easy process…But it is and was based on [Luukkonen’s] health…Alex was working on some stuff…He missed more time than we thought.”
Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson exited late in regulation after taking an elbow from Meier; Ruff confirmed Samuelsson entered concussion protocol postgame but provided no further update.
Buffalo will play next against Minnesota Wild on Saturday evening.
