BUFFALO – Hey, the Sabres finally scored their first power-play of the season on Saturday, a small bright spot in an otherwise forgettable 4-1 loss to the Utah Mammoth.
Eight minutes into the game, forward Tage Thompson scored what he called “a pretty fluky power-play goal,” carrying the puck from his own zone into Utah territory before beating goalie Karel Vejmelka at the bottom of the right circle.
Still, the Sabres, two days removed from an embarrassing 4-0 loss to the Dallas Stars, seized some much-needed early momentum.
For the first time since opening night, they scored first. The goal ended a zero-for-35 regular-season power-play drought that dated back to last season.
Their lead before the capacity crowd of 19,070 fans in KeyBank Center lasted just over two minutes. In the second period, Utah scored twice to pull away.
Five games into the season, the 2-3-0 Sabres look nothing like the speedy, rigid team that tore through the NHL last season and won 50 games.
They’ve showcased an anemic offense and a porous defense.
“We haven’t been connected,” Ruff said of the Sabres’ goal-scoring struggles. “We’re trying to find who we are.”
Right now, the Sabres, the NHL’s most consistent team for four months last season, have no identity.
Ruff also used to the word “connected” to explain their defensive struggles.
“When one piece gets beat, you got to have another piece there,” he said. “We’ve been missing that piece.”
Ruff used Kailer Yamamoto’s goal 10:12 into the game as an example. As he zoomed to the net, no one picked him up, allowing him to easily convert Barrett Hayton’s pass.
“You look at the first goal, we could have gone outside help, and we let a guy get inside, and ends up being a back-door goal,” he said. “That’s an area that we were really good at.”
Last season, the Sabres had an explosive offense that complemented their sturdy defense.
These days, they have trouble generating and can’t score. Forwards Zach Benson, Josh Doan, Ryan McLeod and Josh Norris are all goalless this season.
Through two periods Saturday, forwards accounted for just six of the Sabres’ 11 shots on goal. As a team, they finished the night with 24 shots.
Ruff believes any type of goal could ignite those struggling forwards.
“You got to have something good happen,” he said. “You need a game where all of a sudden, a couple of those guys get on the board, whether it’s a deflection, whether it’s just a lucky goal that goes off you.”
Ruff said those forwards are “squeezing sticks,” meaning “they’re not making plays that I think they can normally make.”
At least the Sabres, who close their five-game home stand Monday afternoon against the Florida Panthers, displayed more battle against Utah.
After Thursday’s tepid effort, Ruff scratched young forwards Konsta Helenius and Jiri Kulich and called on his team to raise its compete level.
“I thought (we had) a lot more,” he said of the Sabres’ battle. “We need to get rewarded for a few of those plays around the net. We got inside, we had more battle. Can we be better still? Yeah, I think so.”
Nick Schmaltz (power play), Anders Lee and John Marino (power play) scored for Utah. Goalie Colten Ellis made 26 saves fore the Sabres.
