If you thought things could not get any worse for the Buffalo Sabres this year, take a look at what happened in Thursday’s 5-2 loss to the Utah Hockey Club.
Down 3-2 in the final minutes of the third period, Buffalo had its goalie pulled and extra attacker on the ice when Utah took a delayed penalty. That should have given the Sabres a power play. Instead, it led to an embarrassing moment that pretty much summed up Buffalo’s season.
With the official’s hand in the air for the delayed penalty, all Buffalo had to do was allow a Utah player to touch the puck and get a whistle.
Tage Thompson, however, had a different idea.
“Give them the puck. Give them the puck. Give them the puck!” shouted Sabres TV analyst Rob Ray, who became increasingly annoyed as the the Sabres passed the puck around. “Give. Them. The. Puck.”
If this doesn’t sum up the Sabres’ fortunes during this record drought, I don’t know what does https://t.co/6rtMKb0CUU
— Steve Warne (@SteveWarneMedia) March 21, 2025
Thompson did not give Utah the puck. Rather, he attempted to pass the puck back to the point.
“I mean, it was kind of a scrambly play, and I was just kind of filling a spot and I got the puck and wasn’t really aware that there was a delayed call,” said Thompson. “So had that been the case, then I probably would have just tried to attack and shoot it, make them touch it. But yeah, they’re kind of sitting there, and thought I had a lane to (Rasmus Dahlin) to the top, and it just went through everybody.”
Sadly, Thompson missed his target with his pass and the puck banked off the boards and travelled the length of the ice and towards the net.
“The Sabres throw it away and this is going to maybe go into the net?” added play-by-play commentator Dan Dunleavy. “Off the boards. Oh my goodness, it’s in.”
“Give them the puck,” an angry Ray said again, in disgust.
Ray — and Buffalo fans — had every reason to be frustrated in how Buffalo handled the delayed penalty. After all, it was only two weeks when the Sabres were in a similar situation against the Tampa Bay Lightning, with the team passing the puck around and wasting valuable time rather than get the whistle.
“We’ve gone over this,” coach Lindy Ruff told reporters. “The Tampa game was the same. I don’t know if (Thompson) realized whether they were getting a penalty, but just chalk another one up.”
Utah scored once more as Buffalo had its two-game winning streak snapped. With 15 games remaining, the Sabres are in last place in the Eastern Conference standings — and 29th overall.
“Bad play by me and even worse result,” said Thompson.
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