BUFFALO – The same Sabres team that looked finished after falling behind four goals to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second period nearly tied the darn thing.
Heck, after winger Tage Thompson scored 33 seconds into Wednesday’s third period, it felt inevitable they would complete a rollicking comeback inside KeyBank Center.
Instead, the Sabres suffered an embarrassing 8-3 loss to their fierce Atlantic Division rival before a capacity crowd of 19,070 fans, many of whom voiced their displeasure.
It became pretty ugly.
“We’re beating ourselves,” Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “We have to look ourselves in the mirror after this one. I know we can play really good hockey. We’ve proven that, but we have to do it consistently. Today was not good.”
Still, the Sabres, who have an alarming penchant for breaking down defensively and falling behind multiple goals, roared back into the game.
In the moments after they moved to within 4-3, the Sabres buzzed around the Lightning net. But after center Noah Ostlund narrowly missed scoring in close, they imploded.
John Carlson grabbed the puck, and within seconds Nikita Kucherov scored at 1:35, fending off Sabres defenseman Olen Zellweger as he zoomed to the net.
The first goal of Kucherov’s natural hat trick earned Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen a spot on the bench. The Finn made just nine saves – at one point, he received a Bronx cheer for an easy stop – before Colten Ellis replaced him.
“I just thought it wasn’t going good for him,” Ruff said of why he yanked Luukkonen. “I just thought, get him out, maybe Ellie gives us a little bit of a spark. That’s all.
“As a group, we weren’t good enough. That’s part to do with him, it has part to do with everybody.”
Ellis stopped just five of the eight shots he faced.
The Sabres, who own a 4-6-0 record at KeyBank Center, went 1-3-0 during their four-game home stand. Mercifully, they begin a six-game road trip tonight against the hapless Chicago Blackhawks.
Perhaps 11 days away from home will help transform the Sabres’ season. While it’s still early, they fell seven points behind the Lightning.
They’re 4-1-3 on the road, where they look more like the team that earned 109 points last season.
At home, they often break down defensively, handing opponents odd-man rushes.
“We just gave up way too many odd-man rushes,” Thompson said. “A team like that, they don’t miss many. “So I feel like we just kind of shot ourselves in the foot, just giving them free looks, especially after having good O-zone (time).”
The Sabres did that in the first period, entering the dressing room trailing 2-0 after outplaying the Lightning for much of the opening 20 minutes.
“We knew we were going to get opportunities,” Ruff said. “You look at the opportunities we started the game with, don’t let the frustration of not scoring lead to giving teams the other opportunities.
“I think if we stay patient, just go out of that period 0-0 knowing we played a good period.”
After Sabres winger Jack Quinn passed up a prime scoring opportunity, the Lightning went down the ice and grabbed the lead, getting a rare goal from Scott Sabourin at 18:49. Carlson scored a power-play goal at 19:38.
“The first thing today we talked about was not giving them anything off the rush and stay out of the (penalty) box,” Thompson said. “Our first period, I thought we did a good job of that, and then (the) last two minutes or whatever of the first, (we) give them a rush chance, give them a power play, and we’re chasing the game.
Brandon Hagel and Yanni Gourde scored in the second period before Ruff called a timeout with the Sabres trailing 4-0.
Winger Josh Doan scored a power-play goal at 15:54 to ignite the Sabres. Winger Jason Zucker’s goal at 19:32 gave them more hope.
After Kucherov, who enjoyed a four-point night, completed his eighth three-goal game in the NHL, Hagel scored again.
“We’re beating ourselves,” Dahlin said. “The stuff they get is stuff that we can control. We’re not playing a full 60 (minutes) right now. It’s not good.”
Carlson recorded five points. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves.
Ostlund and Quinn each compiled a minus-4 rating.
