The Buffalo Sabres welcomed back their captain on Wednesday night as Rasmus Dahlin returned to the lineup in a matchup against the struggling Philadelphia Flyers, but the visitors sent the home fans home unhappy.
Buffalo drew an early power play, something they have been trying to improve this season. Philadelphia killed off the Simon Benoit minor for tripping; however, Sabres fans gave their team loud applause as they held the puck in the Flyers' zone most of the two minutes and created several scoring chances.
Flyers goalie Dan Vladar came to play, stopping a handful of good opportunities in the opening period.
It was scoreless through the first 14 minutes, and despite Buffalo outplaying the Flyers in the opening minutes, Philadelphia would light the lamp first; Cole Knuble, son of retired veteran forward Mike Knuble, scored his first career NHL goal, putting a rebound past a sprawling Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
In the final minute of the period, Philadelphia would build on their lead with the man advantage; Trevor Zegras batted a rebound out of the air, making it 2-0 Flyers.
After one period, Buffalo outshot Philadelphia 16-9; goaltending clearly made the difference.
In the second period with under 5 minutes to go, after already being on the power play, the refs made an error when Sabres defenseman Owen Power was called for a high-sticking penalty after Zegras's stick hit Flyers forward Matvei Michkov in the face. Buffalo was able to kill off the 5-on-3, but Sabres fans were loud and did not stop giving it to the officials after that.
A few moments later, Buffalo would get it back when Travis Sanheim was called for a high-sticking minor. The Sabres capitalized on the power play; Jack Quinn wristed one that deflected off of Jason Zucker and into the net, making it 2-1 Philadelphia. Noah Ostlund was also credited with an assist.
The Sabres outshot the Flyers 22-19 after two periods.
In the third period, Cole Knuble added to his memorable night as he skated past the red line and banked it off of Luukkonen's pad into the net, making it 3-1.
Buffalo didn't muster up many chances in the third, only getting five shots on net in the period as the Sabres fell 3-1; Buffalo is now 4-4-2 on the season.
After the game, Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff addressed his team not being able to capitalize on good chances.
"I thought we had some great looks in the first period. We had some good looks in the second period too. I still think we miss the net too often." Ruff added, "Our guys got frustrated."
Owen Power said that although Vladar played well in net for the Flyers, Buffalo still has to be able to find a way to capitalize on opportunities, especially against good goaltending.
"We had our looks, their goalie played well, but you know that's no excuse. We still gave up probably too much, and I think we could have been a lot better," said Power.
Buffalo was 1 for 3 on the power play in the loss; Zucker says not being able to score with man advantage doesn't come down to one player.
"It has nothing to do with one guy. I think we all need to be better. I think we all need to look ourselves in the mirror and understand what we're doing wrong, what we're doing well. Take some of the positives and dump the rest and start learning from what we're doing wrong here," said Zucker.
Next up: Buffalo hits the road for four straight away from KeyBank Center; the Sabres travel to the nation's capital to take on the Washington Capitals on Saturday night.
Other notes: Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson notched a milestone on Wednesday night, playing in his 300th career game.
It was Buffalo's sixth sold-out game of the season at KeyBank Center.
