The Buffalo Sabres fell apart in the third period against the Utah Mammoth on Wednesday night. The Sabres had a 2-0 lead early before allowing the Mammoth to score five unanswered goals in a 5-2 loss. Four of those goals came in the third period.
“With the manpower we’re down, you build that lead, you’ve got to defend better,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff told reporters. “We didn’t defend well enough. We’re a better defending team than that.”
The manpower Ruff is referring to is the Sabres’ lengthy injury list, which includes five of the top nine forwards from training camp. Buffalo’s captain and best player, Rasmus Dahlin, is on leave back in Sweden while his fiancee continues her recovery from a heart transplant. That’s not a blanket excuse for this loss, but a team that was already going to need to scratch and claw to get to the playoffs is now without a significant chunk of its lineup.
That’s what made the performance of Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch and Ryan McLeod even more alarming Wednesday. That group operated as Buffalo’s top line and failed to register a shot on net. It was a continuation of the early-season inconsistency from Thompson and Tuch that has contributed to the Sabres’ 5-7-4 record. Buffalo still has not won a road game.
Normally 16 games into the season would be a fair time to put together some early player grades. But given the current state of the injured list, we’d have to hand out a lot of incompletes. Instead, let’s take a look at some players who are trending up and trending down 16 games into the season.
Stock up
Isak Rosen, winger
Rosen was supposed to dominate the rookie tournament in Buffalo in September, but he played in all three games and failed to get a point. The 2021 first-round pick came into the season on the outside looking in at a roster spot. He went down to Rochester and came out of the gates as the league’s leading scorer before injuries opened up an opportunity for him to jump into the lineup in Buffalo.
MAGIC. ✨ pic.twitter.com/XSpYxJLSWd
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) November 13, 2025
Rosen has played in only five games, but he’s already made more of an impression than he did in any of his previous call-ups. His defensive details are solid. He’s quick to close on players and has a strong defensive stick. And we’re now seeing more glimpses of his offensive potential. Against Utah, Rosen scored twice. One was right at the net front and the other was on a pretty give-and-go passing play with Noah Ostlund. Rosen has three goals and an assist in his five games.
Rochester Americans coach Michael Leone pointed out earlier this season that Rosen’s competitiveness will look different than some other players’. He’s not a punishing checker, but he can use his speed to get in on the forecheck and his stick to disrupt plays. He’s been doing that and showing off some slippery lateral movement on the rush to create chances. He’s been a bright spot. And Ostlund and Tyson Kozak, two of Rosen’s teammates in the AHL last season, have been impressive as well.
Conor Timmins, defenseman
The Sabres swapped out Connor Clifton for Conor Timmins this summer, and he’s been a big upgrade.
The Sabres have 54 percent of the high-danger chances when Timmins is on the ice at five-on-five. He also leads the team in short-handed ice time. He’s blocked 15 shots on the penalty kill and has 35 shot blocks at all strengths. There’s nothing particularly flashy about Timmins’ game, but that’s what makes him an ideal fit on a blue line that has plenty of players who bring flashier offensive elements to the game. Timmins makes quick decisions with the puck and does a lot of the necessary dirty work.
“He’s really solid, steady,” Owen Power said. “He makes the right plays, makes simple plays, defends well, has good gaps and a good stick. He’s been really solid all year and a huge add to this team.”
Timmins and Power formed a solid pair for the Sabres early in the season, but Ruff has started to use Timmins as a player who can stabilize different players at different times. Ruff recently put him with Bowen Byram, an old teammate from his Colorado days. Timmins signed a two-year contract with a $2.2 million cap hit this summer, and that’s looking like a savvy piece of business by the Sabres.
Alex Lyon, goalie
Lyon got a chance to start out of the gate and ran away with the opportunity. He signed a two-year contract worth $1.5 million per year, and it looks like he has a real chance to outperform that deal. He has a .912 save percentage and 2.92 goals-against average in 11 starts this season. He has eight quality starts, according to Hockey Reference. Lyon is giving the Sabres a chance to win more often than not and has also shown some leadership qualities off the ice in his short time in Buffalo.
Stock down
The Sabres’ three-goalie rotation
Wednesday’s game marked goalie Colten Ellis’ first appearance since Oct. 22. (Rob Gray / Imagn Images)
While Lyon has been excellent, the Sabres’ three-goalie rotation hasn’t exactly produced consistent results on the nights Lyon doesn’t play. Colten Ellis had a strong debut, but then went eight games without playing. He started off strong against the Mammoth but then the game got away from the Sabres in the third period. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, meanwhile, has just one quality start in three appearances.
Goaltending hasn’t been a problem for the Sabres this season, but the three-goalie rotation hasn’t yet yielded an answer on who the team’s backup should be. And Luukkonen, the highest paid of the three, hasn’t found his game.
Thompson’s Olympic chances
Thompson’s Olympic candidacy has been fascinating to track. Last year, he was viewed by many as a snub when Team USA announced its roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off. He then played for the United States at the World Championship and scored the overtime winner in the gold-medal game. Because of that, he came into the season with the inside track at a roster spot on Team USA’s Olympic team. But the way he’s started the season has to cast some doubt on that. He has 12 points in 16 games, which is off his usual pace.
The bigger concern, though, is the way he’s played without the puck. When Thompson is on the ice at five-on-five, the high-danger chances are 50-32 in favor of the opponent. He’s had a lot of linemates, so it’s been an odd start for Thompson. But Wednesday, Thompson was on a line with Tuch and McLeod. As mentioned, the trio combined for zero shots on net. Thompson still has a chance to play in the Olympics, but he’s far from a lock at this point. He needs to show more consistency than he has in the first 16 games.
The power play
The Sabres’ power play is 25th in the league at 16.7 percent. Despite a brief hot stretch, this has again been a major problem. After going scoreless against the Mammoth, the Sabres’ power play hasn’t scored a goal in five games.
Some of this has to do with injured personnel. Zach Benson and Jason Zucker were big pieces on the power play early in the season. Dahlin is also a key component. Josh Norris could be, too, but he hasn’t played since he got injured in the first game of the season.
But injuries don’t explain the disjointed passing, poor decision-making and inability to sustain zone time. There are enough capable players in the Sabres’ lineup with power-play experience to produce better results than this.