BUFFALO – How’s this for a throwback to, uh, early last season? The Sabres performed so poorly in Thursday’s ugly 4-0 loss to the Dallas Stars that surly fans booed throughout night.
They booed as the Sabres frittered away three power plays. They booed when they left the ice down four goals at the end of the second period.
When the final horn sounded, what remained of what was a capacity crowd of 19,070 fans in KeyBank Center booed again.
“We really just didn’t have our game tonight,” Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson. “Obviously, that’s not an excuse, we’ve got to find a way to be effective when you aren’t feeling your best.”
One week into the new season, the Sabres, who caught fire following a sluggish start last season and earned 109 points, haven’t been at their best for one full game.
They’ve trailed by at least two goals in every contest. They’ve allowed the first goal in all three home games. Their struggling power play, which draws the ire of the restless home crowd each game, has converted zero of its 13 chances.
Still, they’re 2-2-0. Eighty games are left on the schedule.
On Thursday, poor details and blown coverage burned the Sabres, who executed so rigidly much of last season, most the night.
“Two goals we came off our men,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “… Those details weren’t missing the other night.”
Goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who did not play in Tuesday’s 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild, has struggled at times behind the Sabres’ porous defense, allowing 12 goals this season.
In three outings, the Finn has compiled a 4.02 goals-against average and a .782 save percentage.
Ghastly numbers like that, of course, won’t quell rumors the Sabres are interested in goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who’s on the trade block after refusing to report to training camp and getting suspended.
Naturally, Luukkonen’s confidence has probably taken a hit.
“He’s in a place he’s always battled,” Ruff said. “I give him a lot of credit. He’s had some ups and downs, but he’s battled. He’s the type of guy that he’ll own when he doesn’t like when he plays, and he’ll battle to get better.”
Luukkonen, who made 14 saves, said he can’t worry about a lack of goal support.
“My job is to keep the pucks out of the net, and right now, it’s not happening at a good enough pace, I guess,” he said. “So it’s only three games in, but you don’t want to start the season like this. It’s not like they’re all bad goals or anything, but I think there’s something to kind of clean up on every game.”
Meanwhile, the power play generated little as it failed to set up in the Dallas zone. On their first opportunity, the Sabres iced the puck.
Still, they could’ve scored a goal or two.
“Our first power play wasn’t any good,” Ruff said. “I’m not going to try to disguise that. Our second one, we have (Zach) Benson all alone in front of the net, and you get a couple whacks. You got put that in the back of the neck. (Tage Thompson) had one right in the slot that normally he finds a hole.”
Ruff acknowledged the stress level gets ramped up on the power play at home.
“It’s a delicate place to be because you don’t want them squeezing the sticks,” he said. “You got to keep working at the things you think is going to make it effective. And to a man, we’ve been putting the extra time, trying to make sure we got this figured out, and how to solve pressure, the effort to get loose pucks back.”
Stars goalie Jake Oettinger made 26 saves. The Sabres hadn’t been shut out since Nov. 28, 2025 against the New Jersey Devils.
Jason Robertson opened the scoring 9:03 into the game, keeping the puck on a two-on-one. Sam Steel, Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz scored in the second period.
Incredibly, the Sabres had gone 22 consecutive games without losing to a Western Conference opponent in regulation (19-0-3). Before Thursday, they hadn’t lost since a 7-4 setback to the Flames on Dec. 8, 2025 in Calgary.
The next night, the Sabres started their 10-game win streak and climb up the standings.
