HEAD COACH SHELDON KEEFE
On what he can take from Hutchinson’s performance today:
I think there will be a lot of focus on Hutch, of course, but there’s a lot more going on in the game than just that. We’re in a good spot, I thought Hutch played an excellent first period, allowed us to get out of there with the 1-0 lead and build on that lead. I just didn’t think we took care of it very well. We were really sloppy with the puck in important spots, things that we spoke about in-between periods after the first and didn’t adjust well and didn’t take care of it. So, that’s an area we have to clean up. I thought we just handed them the puck in bad spots. Dangerous shooters, that made it hard.
On missed opportunities to score more early coming back to play a factor in the end:
Yeah, those of course are factors. You know, when you look back and how the game finishes, I think [Nylander] was in alone there twice in the first period, [Kapanen] in the second period. So, you’re 0-for-3 on breakaways and don’t play a very good hockey game yet push back in the third enough to make it a fight right to the end and end up losing by one goal plus the empty net. There’s a lot of encouraging signs there still that are positives for us. But there’s still lots of lessons to be learned, for sure. We’ll make sure we clean those up for tomorrow.
On if Buffalo did anything to prevent the team from finding its rhythm:
Well, you’ve got to give some credit to them. I thought they did do a nice job. Things that we talked about going into the game, we knew the neutral zone was going to be hard to get through today with just how they set up their structure there. In all the games we’ve watched previous to this, teams have had a tougher time getting through there. So we thought that was a problem for us, but I thought we were in a good spot and then just kind of forced one more pass instead of putting the puck into a better place where we could have gone after it. We did a better job of that in the third period at times and it paid off for us. We’ll have to do more of that.
MICHAEL HUTCHINSON (30 SAVES)
On tonight’s loss:
It was a tough game. I thought we came out in the first period and played well and played really well in the third period. I think it shows a lot about our team that we were able to make adjustments after the second period and come out and generate a lot of offense in the third period. We came close a bunch of times, I thought [Matthews] was possessed on that one shift late in the third period where it just felt like the puck was going to go in, but their goalie made some big saves and it ended up being the difference.
On how he felt in his first game back seeing being recalled from the Marlies:
I felt okay. There’s an adjustment going both ways when you’re going from the NHL down to the American League there’s an adjustment and there’s an adjustment coming up. For myself, it wasn’t the cleanest game – I was battling hard trying to find pucks – that’s one of those things where the more you play, you feel more comfortable. I was just trying to battle through and get my body on pucks, as many pucks as I could. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the win.
AUSTON MATTHEWS (24:48 TOI)
On what went wrong after a good first period:
I thought we had a good start to the game. Obviously, we were up a couple goals but I think it kind of just got away from us a little bit out of the first. Especially in the second period, I think we weren’t taking care of the puck. I think we were just trying to look for the perfect play through the neutral zone and sometimes it’s just not there. Obviously, tough finish to this game, regroup and get ready for tomorrow.
On if they could have scored more in the first period:
Yeah, we had some really good chances there in the first period and their goalie made some good saves. Like I said, we just got away from our game. They picked up their intensity and I think we sat back on our heels and the rest is history.
MORGAN RIELLY (2 ASSISTS)
On where things went wrong after going up 2-0 in the first period:
They made a push, for sure. I think halfway through the game we kind of lost track of what we were doing, what the game plan was and they definitely capitalized on that. I thought we came out in the third, we battled but too little too late. I think it’s more important going forward that we continue the game plan for 60 and not stray from it when you get a lead.
On if tonight was a case of the game coming too easy at first and subsequentially losing focus:
I think that might be a bit in-depth, I think it’s just a matter of getting the lead and taking your foot of the gas. Obviously, with that they capitalized and in this league that happens. So, like I said, moving forward it’s going to be more important for us to be more consistent over 60 minutes and we can worry about that tomorrow night.
JOHN TAVARES (2 GOALS)
On what led to the loss after a good start:
I think, especially with the last three games, we built some really good things. We got the lead; we were a little sloppy at times but had some good opportunities. We just weren’t very hard on pucks; we were sloppy coming through the neutral zone quite a bit and that led to some of the transition. You can see they started making some plays, feeling good about themselves. We continued to give ourselves a chance but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot.
On if the Sabres did anything to turn the momentum:
They definitely, I thought, tried to really pack the neutral zone and play really patient on us. You can think you’ve got some time and space but they were closing things off pretty quickly as we were trying to come up. We’ve got to find a way to get through that and continue to play with the speed that we can. Understand what’s there, take what’s given and not force the issue at times.
The view from left field 