The Buffalo Sabres got a reminder of how steep their postseason climb is on Wednesday.
Heading into their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Sabres had won four of their last five games and finally had moved out of last place in the Eastern Conference. It was a chance to get their first three-game winning streak of the season and an opportunity for a four-point swing in the standings against a Penguins team that could be contending for a wild-card spot.
Instead, the Sabres got off to a slow start, managed the puck poorly, got lousy goaltending and ended up heading home from Pittsburgh with a 4-2 loss that put them right back in last place.
This was a winnable game that the Sabres made difficult due to self-inflicted mistakes.
Here’s what we saw from the Sabres in this game.
1. On the Penguins’ first goal of the game, Sabres defenseman Conor Timmins was skating the puck up ice in the neutral zone and dropped a pass to no one rather than dumping the puck in. The pass went directly to Penguins defenseman Matt Dumba, who skated in and took a shot that deflected off Bowen Byram’s stick before beating Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen on his glove side. While it’s a save Luukkonen could have made, the turnover from Timmins was egregious.
Dumba, 1-0 #LetsGoBuffalo #LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/IDoUri3Din
— Buffalo Hockey Moments (@SabresPlays) November 27, 2025
This was a tough night for Timmins, who is caught in the middle of a rough patch. In the last four games, Buffalo has been outscored 7-2 when Timmins is on the ice at five-on-five. The Byram-Timmins pair has an on-ice expected goal share of 40 percent in 135 five-on-five minutes this season.
Timmins will likely continue to play up in the lineup as long as Michael Kesselring is injured. The Sabres need more out of him in that role.
2. In the third period, the Sabres managed to tie the game at 1-1 on a Jason Zucker goal, but it took all of 31 seconds for the Penguins to get the lead back. The Penguins’ second goal was a mess of a play from the Sabres. A point shot went wide of the net. Timmins misplayed the puck behind the net, and Luukkonen went into scramble mode. He ended up losing his stick and wasn’t tracking the puck well before Bryan Rust grabbed the puck and beat him five-hole.
Rust, 2-1 #LetsGoBuffalo #LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/oxn6g4XSbW
— Buffalo Hockey Moments (@SabresPlays) November 27, 2025
That goal was a backbreaker. Luukkonen’s biggest issue this season has been an inability to come up with timely saves. He’s also struggled with tracking the puck and a weak glove side. His game against Carolina was one of his best of the season, but he fell back down to earth on Wednesday and added more confusion to the Sabres’ goalie picture.
Lindy Ruff’s plan with the goaltenders has been to ride the hot hand. When a goalie wins, that goalie tends to stay in the net for the next game. The issue with that plan is sometimes it’s useful to anticipate when the hot hand might be burning out before it does. Alex Lyon got off to a terrific start to the season and started the team’s first six games. Somehow, he hasn’t seen the net for more than two weeks after getting pulled after two quick goals in a loss to Colorado. To my eye, Lyon is their best and most proven goalie. He should be back in net this weekend.
But this three-goalie situation will persist until the team decides on two of the goalies and moves forward. Nobody has made that decision easy yet.
3. The second goal was rough, but the Penguins’ third goal again came on an avoidable error for the Sabres. Erik Karlsson had the puck along the wall in the offensive zone and feathered a perfect pass to Kevin Haynes for a back-door goal. But Hayes managed to get to the net with ease because Owen Power left him way too much room and didn’t tie up his stick or body as the pass came across.
Hayes, 3-1 #LetsGoBuffalo #LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/NCzWWWwET4
— Buffalo Hockey Moments (@SabresPlays) November 27, 2025
This has been a common theme for Power, who is off to an underwhelming start to the season. He hasn’t been assertive enough in the defensive zone, which was also a big problem for him last season. The Sabres are being outscored 16-15 in his five-on-five minutes, and he only has seven points in 22 games. Power makes $8.35 million per year, but he’s not playing up to that salary yet.
4. This was a big game for Jack Quinn, who got a primary assist on the Zucker goal and then scored a goal of his own later in the third period to give the Sabres a chance at tying the game. The entire line of Zucker, Ryan McLeod and Quinn really sparked Buffalo in this game. The Sabres had a 14-2 advantage in scoring chances during that line’s five-on-five minutes. Zucker and Quinn combined for 12 scoring chances between the two of them.
Quinn has now strung a few good outings together with five of his 13 points this season coming in the last three games.
5. The Sabres don’t have much time to dwell on this game. They play the New Jersey Devils at home on Friday afternoon and then hit the road to play the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night. After that, they have a home game against the Winnipeg Jets to complete three games in four days.
By the end of the stretch, they should have an idea about whether they’re serious about climbing up the standings. As of now, they are in sole possession of last place in the Eastern Conference and five points away from a wild-card spot. History and statistics will tell you not a lot of playoff teams are in that spot on American Thanksgiving.