The Buffalo Sabres know a hockey game is 60 minutes. Putting together a complete performance for that whole time, though, has been a struggle for them thus far this young season.
The Sabres are 4-4-3 through their first 11 games. They trailed after two periods 10 times but rallied for points in six of those games, including three wins. They have outscored their opponents 12-4 in the third period, with those four tallies tied with the Dallas Stars for fewest allowed in the NHL through the weekend.
“I feel like we start strong and then we kind of feel good about the first period,” Buffalo captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “We’ve got to remember it’s 60 minutes and we have to push every single shift and it’s not going to be easy.”
Buffalo got off to a 2-0 lead in its latest outing, a 4-3 overtime loss at Washington on Saturday. The Sabres held a 2-1 lead after the first period but entered the third trailing the Capitals 3-2 before Noah Ostlund tied it early in the final frame. Former Sabres forward Alex Tuch scored the game-winning goal, his second of the night.
The Sabres have allowed at least three goals in all but one game this season. The 40 total goals they have surrendered were tied for the sixth most in the league through Sunday, and their 3.64 goals-against average was the fourth highest.
“We’ve got to get to that point where we stay a lot more solid defensively and we get a couple-goal lead that we make the opposition earn what they get,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was shaky in his first three starts but has settled since relieving Colten Ellis on Oct. 12. And though his performance has improved, it hasn’t been helped by poor defensive play from his teammates in front of him.
“I think everyone in this room knows that we’ve let ‘Upie’ down, and that’s on us,” forward Josh Doan said. “I think there’s a reason that this room and everyone here has faith in Upie. We’ve all seen it, and we all know how competitive he is, and how much he brings to the table for us, and I think we all owe him a huge apology right now.”
The Sharks, meanwhile, are also looking to shore up their defensive play as they struggle to generate offense in their return home after completing a 3-2-1 road trip.
“We can be better in front of our net, we can be better on faceoffs, we can generate more by holding onto pucks and getting on the forecheck,” San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “When things aren’t kind of going, you’ve got to look at some things.”
After posting consecutive wins against the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators to kick off the second half of the trip, the Sharks dropped a 6-4 decision to the Boston Bruins in the finale on Saturday.
Four of Boston’s first five goals were scored right at the net, including the game-tying and game-winning goals, which were tallied from 5 feet out.
“We see how the goals are going in,” San Jose defenseman Jacob Trouba said of the team’s play in front of its own net. “… We just want to be harder to play against, make it tougher to go to our net.”
San Jose was tied for the NHL’s seventh-worst goals-against average through Sunday, 3.50.