The start of the 2025-26 NHL season has been nothing short of nightmarish for the Buffalo Sabres, who have scored two total goals over three regulation losses to begin the campaign.
Getting off to an 0-3 start is brutal in its own right, but coupled with the fact that the roster has already been decimated by injuries, the outlook is already looking bleak in Western New York.
Rasmus Dahlin didn't mince words when asked about the Sabres' struggles in a 3-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on home ice on Monday afternoon.
“It's not good enough,” the captain told reporters postgame, including NHL.com's Heather Engel. “A lot of the areas. Better start today, worse ending. Not good power play, good PK, good goaltending — we just can't catch a break. We got to get out of this bulls**t.”
Buffalo is 0-11 with the man advantage through three contests, which is one of the main culprits of the slow start. With Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen on IR to start the year, Alex Lyon has been serviceable between the pipes, allowing eight goals in that span. He's given his squad a chance to win, but the offense cannot buy a goal.
It doesn't help that, along with UPL, Jordan Greenway, Zach Benson and Michael Kesselring, the Sabres have also lost Josh Norris and Michael Kesselring to the injury bug.
Norris' ailment is the most detrimental; the first-line center will be out long-term with a serious upper-body injury suffered in the third period of a season-opening 4-0 loss to the New York Rangers last Thursday. Benson is aiming for a quick return to the lineup after missing the start of the campaign recovering from a puck to the face in practice.
Regardless of who is available, this team badly needs to turn things around — and fast. The fanbase is already long out of patience, although that's what Tage Thompson was preaching after Monday's loss.
Tage Thompson is staying positive
“I’m a big believer that negativity breeds negativity, and that’s kind of how we’ve snowballed things in the past,” said Thompson, who has one of Buffalo's two goals to start the year. “So, we can’t let three games be the end of the world, like I said.
“Obviously this sucks. No one wants to lose their first three games, but we’ve got an opportunity Wednesday (against the Ottawa Senators) to turn it around, and I think that’s all we’ve got to start doing: just look at the next game. Can’t keep looking back — last three games, last four seasons, last 14 seasons, whatever you want to do. We’ve just got to keep our sights set on what’s next.”
What's next for the Sabres is an all-Atlantic Division clash with the Senators on home ice on Wednesday. Once again, they'll try to get their first win of the 2025-26 season against an Ottawa team that will be without Brady Tkachuk for at least a month.
Puck is set to drop just past 7:00 p.m. ET from Keybank Center.
