Raleigh, NC (WGR 550) - Monday’s 2-1 loss in Carolina wasn’t from a lack of effort or not paying attention to details. For the final 40 minutes, the Sabres poured numerous Grade-A chances at Brandon Bussi and couldn’t get the puck past him.
Buffalo only had 18 shots on goal, but in the final 40 minutes they worked hard to produce fantastic scoring opportunities. Tage Thompson himself had enough great opportunities to give the Sabres a two or three goal win. I think he played just as well as he did Jan. 15 against the Montreal Canadiens when he had five points.
Thompson’s best chance came on the power play in the second period. Famous Sabres killer Sebastian Aho turned the puck over at the blue line giving the Sabres a 2-on-0. Jason Zucker passed the puck to Thompson and Bussi had the glove in position and absolutely robbed Thompson who thought he had an easy layup goal.
The only goal to beat Bussi came 1:33 into the game when Rasmus Dahlin used a lightning quick release to beat Bussi far side. Dahlin felt that he surprised Bussi because I’m sure the goaltender would like that one back.
Some of you might be asking who is this guy that came to the Hurricanes and is 18-3-1 with a 2.20 goals against and a .906 save percentage? Carolina claimed the 27-year-old off waivers from the Florida Panthers on Oct. 5. The Panthers had inked him as a July 1 free agent from the Boston Bruins after playing three seasons and 111 games with the Providence Bruins in the AHL. He had never played an NHL game after leaving Western Michigan University after three seasons.
Aho wasn’t just turning pucks over, he assisted on both Hurricanes goals and in 25 games against the Sabres has 17 goals and 16 assists for 33 points.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 26 saves and I thought was the second star of the game behind Bussi. Luukkonen had to stop first period breakaways from former Sabres Taylor Hall and Eric Robinson. Alex Lyon is off of IR and I’d be shocked if he doesn’t play Tuesday in Nashville against the Predators. It would be his first game since Dec. 29.
Lindy Ruff said Michael Kesselring tweaked his previous injury and couldn’t play. He has not been ruled out for Tuesday. Jordan Greenway missed the game for scheduled maintenance and likely will play Tuesday. They still don't want to use him in back-to-back games.
One of the reasons I think this team has slipped just a little bit losing three of five games is the penalty kill the last four games. In that time the Sabres have only killed 9-of-14 penalties which is 64%. They have been first or second for most of the season the league ranking, but now the penalty kill is ranked seventh at 82.6%
Before getting trounced in Vegas by the Golden Knights on Saturday, Nashville had won three in a row and four out of five. They also had gone 10-4-0 in 14 games.
In goal Juuse Saros is 19-15-3 with a 2.94 goals against and .898 save percentage. Former Sabre Ryan O’Reilly leads them in scoring with 16 goals and 28 assists for 44 points in 48 games.
Join Brian Koziol and me for the pregame starting at 7:00.