No rest? No problem. But no win either.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen started in goal on back-to-back nights for just the second time in his career but couldn’t get his second win in 24 hours Sunday as the Buffalo Sabres were grounded by the Winnipeg Jets, 5-2, in KeyBank Center.
“It’s really a shame this team isn’t likely to get back in the race now. But maybe that’s the point, too. The pressure is off. It’s easy to play this well. Where was this hockey earlier in the season?” Mike Harrington writes.
The Sabres had a 2-1 lead through two periods on goals by JJ Peterka and Eric Robinson but couldn’t hold it and suffered their first regulation loss when leading after two periods this season (19-1-1). They had been 46-0-5 in those spots since a 5-3 loss at Carolina on April 7, 2022.
The Sabres fell back to .500 at 29-29-4 and failed to win three straight at home for the first time this season.
Luukkonen made 30 saves but regretted the game’s two key goals: Defenseman Josh Morrissey got the Jets even by leaking a shot through the Buffalo goalie with 9:22 to play from the left circle. Morgan Barron won it with a wrister from the right circle that beat Luukkonen high glove with 6:05 left.
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“That’s usually when that stuff happens when you have momentum backwards,” Luukkonen said of the Morrissey goal. “You’re not compact enough I guess when you’re sliding backwards. For sure, I should have played it better.”
The Sabres had control in the Winnipeg zone on the winning goal but Peyton Krebs couldn’t corral the puck in the neutral zone and Barron got loose to burn Luukkonen.
“A good shot. It’s really hard for a goalie when he’s coming down down that fast and has time to drag the puck a little bit,” Luukkonen said. “You’re trying to move closer to get a better angle to the shot. Perfect world, you want to have that.”
When UMass-Lowell called a timeout during a 4-on-3 power play in overtime for Ufko and the Minutemen, he drew up the same play the Sabres used to set up Dahlin for the game-winning goal.
Vladislav Namestnikov stripped Rasmus Dahlin for an empty-net goal with 1:21 left and Sean Monahan added another one with 53.6 seconds left and that was that.
Winnipeg’s four-goal third period came just over 24 hours after it scored five in the third Saturday in Carolina. The Jets wiped out a 3-0 deficit in that game to win, 5-3.
“Our guys fought fatigue but you either find a way to fight through it or find a way to work more efficient,” said coach Don Granato. “We were caught in the middle. I didn’t think we pressured pucks enough. and when we didn’t, we weren’t smart enough to fill in the right areas.”
Luukkonen faced only 25 shots in Saturday’s 7-2 whacking of the Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights, so the Sabres had little hesitation in going back to him against another elite Western Conference opponent.
The Vancouver Canucks re-engaged talks with Elias Pettersson after nearly trading him to Carolina, and they signed the No. 5 overall pick of the 2017 draft to an eight-year, $92.6 million deal.
It was the first time Luukkonen went back to back since losses to the New York Rangers and Washington on Dec. 10-11, 2021. Luukkonen stopped 69 of 73 shots in those two games but wasn’t rewarded in either one.
Granato didn’t indict Luukkonen at all for the loss.
“He made some key saves,” the coach said. “I’m sure he’s a competitive guy and the last couple (goals), he usually makes routine saves on. But he’s been great for us and I don’t fault him for this one at all.”
Luukkonen was tested much more in this game as Winnipeg outshot the Sabres, 35-19, and was able to get several odd-man rushes.
Here are some more observations on the loss:
1. Forward report
Peterka’s tally made him the fifth German-born NHL player to post a 20-goal season before age 23, joining Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl, Atlanta’s Dany Heatley, Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle and Walt Tkachuk of the New York Rangers.
The line of Krebs between Eric Robinson and Zemgus Girgensons was Buffalo’s best most of the night, collecting 67% of the shots at 5 on 5. Robinson’s snapshot off a Krebs feed at 9:20 of the second gave the Sabres their 2-1 lead.
“A nice play by ‘Krebsy’ spinning around on his backhand to find me in the middle,” Robinson said of his third goal with the Sabres. “Really nice to get rewarded.”
The Sabres got no points from their top line of Tage Thompson between Alex Tuch and Jordan Greenway, and the trio combined for a minus-8 rating with only 41% of the shots at 5 on 5. Tuch was minus-3 with no shots on goal.
“Some guys showed fatigue a little bit more than others,” Granato said. “When that’s the case, you have to play a little bit more efficient.”
2. On defense
The Sabres kept veteran defenseman Erik Johnson out of the lineup as the calendar creeps closer to Friday’s NHL trade deadline. Is he hurt? Still sick? Seems like neither.
Granato gave a cryptic answer on Johnson pregame when he said, “We’re not going to make any changes on defense, given the time of year as part of the equation on that. We all know the unique time of year it is.”
Once defensemen Chris Tanev and Ilya Lubushkin were traded this week, Buffalo Sabres General Manager Kevyn Adams began to receive more phone calls from teams inquiring about one of his pending unrestricted free agents, Erik Johnson.
In a conversation with The News on Saturday, General Manager Kevyn Adams said the Sabres were getting more calls on Johnson in the wake of the trades of Anaheim’s Ilya Lyubushkin to Toronto and Calgary’s Chris Tanev to Toronto.
3. In the standings
This was a big missed opportunity. East wild-card teams Detroit and Tampa Bay were both idle Sunday and Buffalo got plenty of help out of town as Washington, New Jersey and Pittsburgh all lost.
With a win, the Sabres could have pulled ahead of the Penguins, even with the Devils, one point behind the Caps and two behind the New York Islanders. Didn’t happen. Didn’t take care of their own business.
After taking Monday off, the Sabres return to practice on Tuesday before heading back on the road for another back to back. They meet the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday in Scotiabank Arena and then play Nashville in Bridgestone Arena on Thursday night.
The Predators are the NHL’s hottest club, with an eight-game winning streak heading into Tuesday’s home game against Montreal.
