BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Sabres are already playing from behind at the start of a 15th season since their last playoff run.
New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin made 37 saves in a 4-0 shutout victory Thursday night as the Sabres struggled to generate scoring chances early on, sputtered on power plays throughout, and by evening’s end deflated the hopeful spirit of a sold-out gathering at KeyBank Center.
“Hell of a goalie,” Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “We’ve just got to put the puck in and the whole game looks different. We had our chances.”
Opening night wounds
Alex Lyon stopped 29 of 32 shots for the Sabres, opening the season with starting goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen out indefinitely with a lower-body injury.
Buffalo also played without defensemen Owen Power and Michael Kesselring, along with forwards and Jordan Greenway and Zach Benson, who coach Lindy Ruff said watched the game from the hospital because of a complications from a cut on his face. Benson was expected to be discharged from the hospital Friday, according to Ruff.
Top-line center Josh Norris left the game early with an upper-body injury, and his status going forward is unclear.
Facing difficulty
Struggles in the faceoff circle contributed to Buffalo’s lack of puck possession early in the game. The Sabres won just 35% of draws in the game.
“We were chasing the puck around,” coach Lindy Ruff said. “I think at one point we were at less than 20% on faceoffs. So they had the puck all the time, which hurt us. They’ve got a couple guys that are good in the faceoff dot. We didn’t win the faceoffs clean, and we didn’t get the secondary help.”
Goals against
The Rangers controlled the opening 12 minutes with an 11-3 advantage in shots on goal and took the lead when Alexis Lafreniére jammed a rebound past Lyon. It remained a one-goal game until Carson Soucy, J.T. Miller and Adam Fox scored for New York in the final five minutes of the third period.
Up next
The Sabres are on the road at Boston on Saturday night before returning home to host the Colorado Avalanche on Monday.
“We have a game in two days, and then we have a game two days after that,” Lyon said. “So we just need to continue to be levelheaded, move forward rationally and try to improve a little bit at a time and try to get a W on Saturday.”
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Jonah Bronstein joined the WIVB squad in 2022 as a digital sports reporter. The Buffalonian has covered the Bills, Sabres, Bandits, Bisons, colleges, high schools and other notable sporting events in Western New York since 2005, for publications including The Associated Press, The Buffalo News, and Niagara Gazette. Read more of his work here.
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