Anaheim’s Rally Falls Short In Buffalo

Photo: AP

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks closed out their road trip in Buffalo against the Sabres. Lukas Dostal was in net against Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Anaheim was without the services of Jacob Trouba, who returned home expecting the birth of his child.

Jack Quinn made it 1-0 Buffalo just over two minutes into this one. He beat Dostal over his glove during a 2-on-1 rush.

Tage Thompson scored early in the second period to make it a 2-0 lead. After an Anaheim turnover, Peyton Krebs found Thompson at the side of the net for the tap in score.

Buffalo made it 3-0 early in the third period. Thompson got the puck behind the Anaheim net and found Bowen Byram in the slot for the score.

Olen Zellweger got the Ducks on the board with just under five minutes to go. He beat Luukkonen in close with a backhand shot.

Buffalo answered less than a minute later with a goal by Quinn. It was his second of the game as he beat Dostal to the far post.

Leo Carlsson scored with about two minutes left to make it a 4-2 contest. He took a wrist circle from the left circle which hit Rasmus Dahlin‘s stick and deflected past Luukkonen.

The Ducks pulled Dostal for the extra skater and Mason McTavish scored in close with about 48 seconds left to make it a one goal game.

Joshua Norris scored into the empty net in the final seconds to make it a 5-3 final.

Analysis:

Another game and another Ducks loss. Anaheim had scored first in their last three contests, but this time it was Buffalo who scored first. The Sabres scored in the opening minutes of this contest and again in the second to build a 2-0 lead. Buffalo made it 3-0 early in the third. Anaheim finally got on the board, but then Buffalo scored less than a minute later. The Ducks didn’t give up scoring twice to get within a goal, but an empty goal put the game away for Buffalo.

It was good to see the Ducks try to fight back again, but the bad part is getting down 3-0 and needing to try to rally to win. The ugly part of course is the Ducks haven’t been able to buy a win in their last nine contests.

During this winless streak it seems in just about every game there is one player on the opposition that Anaheim can’t contain. In this contest it was Quinn, who scored twice. When Anaheim played Philadelphia it was former teammate Trevor Zegras who had two goals. When they faced Washington it was Justin Sourdif who had a hat trick and two assists. Against Minnesota it was Quinn Hughes who had four assists. Brandon Hagel had three assists against the Ducks on New Year’s Eve. And in their last match against the Kings Alex Laferriere scored a hat trick.

This all gets back to the elephant in the room: Anaheim’s defense has been shaky all season long. Early in the season the Ducks were on a roll because they were scoring almost four or more goals every night. They are still scoring goals, but part of the issue is they have been giving up five or more goals almost every night recently. During this nine game winless streak, Anaheim has given up five or more goals in seven of their last nine games.

Another reason for the early season success was the power play. The Ducks were humming along around 25% efficiency early in the season and now that has cooled to just 17%. The penalty kill has been subpar all season and is currently at 77.2% efficiency.

Lastly, the Anaheim goaltending has fallen off a little bit. Dostal was playing extremely well at the start of the season, but since his injury he hasn’t been quite the same. Petr Mrazek had a very rough first couple of games, but then then played better until he too was hurt. Ville Husso provided some decent play his first time up with Anaheim, maybe in his second stint he can end the drought for Anaheim.

Team Notes/Stats:

Anaheim hasn’t won a game in their last nine contests going 0-8-1.

The Ducks are 12-5-0 when scoring first. They are 9-16-3 when their opponent’s score first.

Carlsson is the youngest Ducks player (21 years, 15 days) to score 50 career goals after debuting with Anaheim. Paul Kariya held the previous record at 21 years and 128 days.

The Ducks are 0-7-1 since the Wild Wing statue was removed from the Honda Center after the game on December 22nd, 2025.

What’s Next?

The Ducks host the Stars on Tuesday at 7 PM.

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January 11th, 2026