“A scrambly play”: Buffalo Sabres' one mistake seals loss to Utah Hockey Club, scored own goal in delayed-penalty mishap

The Buffalo Sabres found themselves in an all-too-familiar blunder on Thursday night, committing the same mistake that cost them just two weeks ago. In a crucial moment of their 5-2 loss to the Utah Hockey Club, Buffalo mistakenly scored on their empty net while on a delayed penalty, mirroring a similar mishap against the Tampa Bay Lightning earlier this month.

With less than two minutes remaining and the Sabres trailing 3-2, Buffalo pulled goalie James Reimer to gain an extra attacker after Utah’s Kevin Stenlund was assessed a high-sticking penalty. Instead of capitalizing on the opportunity for a 6-on-4 power play, Tage Thompson misfired a pass that missed defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, sending the puck the entire length of the ice into Buffalo’s net.

“It was kind of a scrambly play and I was just kind of filling a spot,” Thompson said. “We get the puck and I wasn’t really aware there was a delayed call. Had that been the case then, yeah, I probably would have just tried to attack or shoot and make them touch it. So, bad play by me and even worse result.”
The error gave Utah a 4-2 advantage, effectively putting Buffalo out of commission before they could rally. Stenlund, the final Utah player to handle the puck, was awarded the goal even though he was headed to the penalty box.

This marked the second time in as many weeks that Buffalo mismanaged a delayed penalty scenario. Against Tampa Bay on March 7, they failed to apply pressure during a 6-on-4 power play, wrongly assuming the opposing player had touched the puck and hesitating instead of attacking. The miscommunication proved costly.
“We’ve gone over this,” Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said. “The Tampa game was the same. I don’t know if [Thompson] realized whether they were getting a penalty, but just chalk another one up.”
Ruff earlier had expressed the problems he saw while practicing at the Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City.

“I mean it is something different. I don't know how many guys get a chance to go on the oval and experience really how the endurance you need to skate the number of laps they skate and the races they skate in,” Ruff told the media. “When you look at the top defensemen, maybe on a tough night, you might get in on one. It's still a good night. But when you start adding up two or three, it's not a great night.”
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With their playoff hopes fading fast, the Sabres will need to regroup and avoid further self-inflicted errors if they hope to end their postseason drought in the near future.