It’s one of the rarest ways you can score a goal, and it’s more humiliation for a Buffalo Sabres team that is destined to have the longest playoff drought in hockey continue.
Down 3-2 to the Utah Hockey Club in Salt Lake City, the Sabres had the puck in the attacking zone with a man advantage due to an empty net.
In front of the Utah net, defenseman Bowen Byram drew a penalty for high-sticking. That meant the play would stop if a Utah player touched the puck. So, essentially, the only way they could score a goal is if a Sabres player scored an own-goal.
And that’s exactly what happened. Buffalo star Tage Thompson tried finding defenseman Rasmus Dahlin at the top of the slot but fanned it wide.
The puck deflected off the boards at the perfect angle and perfect pace to not only be faster than Dahlin, but slide right over the goal line for an empty net own goal.
Technically, in hockey, own-goals aren’t a thing in the scoresheet. So the goal is credited to the player on the scoring team that touched it last. In this case, Utah’s Kevin Stenlund was credited with the unassisted goal.
Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin breaks his stick after an empty net own goal
Center Tage Thompson played a pass wide, which bounced off the boards and in the net
The humiliation wasn’t enough for Buffalo as they would then go on to allow yet another empty net goal with 19 seconds remaining in the game to lose 5-2.
Fans on social media reacted to the awful luck the Sabres had – and seemingly have continued to have for decades.
‘Buffalo as a whole gotta be cursed. Whole city,’ wrote one user on X, formerly Twitter.
One Sabres fan commented, ‘Right up there with [Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic] scoring a goalie-goal on them this year. The team of memes.’
‘Oh Hockey Gods, Oh Hockey Gods, What did we do to deserve this and what can we do to reverse this?,’ a Sabres fan wondered.
Another Buffalo sports fan said, ‘How does [Sabres general manager] Kevyn Adams still have a job this morning after this? I love [head coach] Lindy [Ruff], but how does he still have a job after this? Can someone in the @BuffaloSabres actually be embarrassed and do something about it for once?’
The Sabres are dead last in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference and currently hold the fourth-worst points total in the NHL.
Buffalo is set to miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a 14th straight season – having not appeared in the postseason since 2011.
