Sabres flop out of playoff race with ugly start in 6-2 home loss to Senators

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Visions of postseason hockey vanished here Wednesday night, well before the Sabres left the ice 6-2 losers against the Ottawa Senators at KeyBank Center.

Giving up three goals in the first six minutes, four before Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was pulled barely halfway through the first, and a fifth by the end of the period, no response Buffalo could muster after that mattered.

Opening a last gasp homestand by snapping a three-win streak in their own barn, the defeated Sabres idle eight points out of playoff position with nine games remaining. Running the table now would get Buffalo to the 91-point plateau that wasn’t good enough a year ago, and with five teams to overtake in the standings, it’s all but inevitable that the longest postseason absence in NHL history will reach teenage at 13 seasons.

Jack Quinn returns to Sabres lineup against Senators

JJ Peterka took the team lead with his 25th goal, Connor Clifton scored his fourth, and Jacob Bryson tallied two assists as the Sabres outscored the Senators 2-1 over the final 40 minutes. Devon Levi stopped 33 of 34 shots after replacing Luukkonen (five saves on nine shots) at 8:49 into the first period.

“I’m disappointed we let Upie down,” Clifton said. “He’s the heart and soul of this team. He’s kept us in so many games, and just to not show up and play that careless style, give them freebies all over the place.”

Artem Zub opened the scoring 2:37 in an outing the Senators led 4-0 by the 8:49 mark of the opening period, and Shane Pinto closed the scoring with an empty-net goal. Brady Tkachuk, Boris Katchouk, Jakob Chychrun and Drake Batherson each had a goal and assist in a matchup of two Atlantic Division teams all but mathematically out of playoff contention. Joonas Korpisalo had 34 saves to improve to 5-1 in his past six starts.

“I was pretty shocked,” Clifton said. “I thought our season’s on the line, we got a team we played three other times already, right, to finish the season series. They came in and they gave it to us and we had no answer.”

UP NEXT

The Sabres continue their five-game run at home with a back-to-back set, Friday night against the New Jersey Devils, and Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

***

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.

The Associated Press contributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to News 4 Buffalo.