Luukkonen gets 2nd straight shutout, Sabres defeat Blackhawks

BUFFALO -- Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 20 saves for the Buffalo Sabres in his second consecutive shutout, a 3-0 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at KeyBank Center on Thursday.

Luukkonen made 28 saves in a 3-0 win against the San Jose Sharks here Monday. His shutout streak is at 157:55 dating to the second period of a 1-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.

“It feels great,” he said. “Especially, you know, there’s been a lot of talk about our defensive play last year, especially we kind of showed how tight we can play. As I said I feel last game, too, it’s not about me, it’s about the team and the shutout. It doesn’t happen if they don’t block shots, box out. … We played a good game tonight, and it showed on the scoreboard.”

Zemgus Girgensons, JJ Peterka and Rasmus Dahlin scored, and Ryan Johnson had two assists for the Sabres (20-21-4), who have won five of their past seven games.

“We’re playing with mojo right now,” Dahlin said. “We’re not afraid to make plays, and we back up each other if someone messes up or something. We’re playing a good team game right now. We’re calm with the puck and make the right plays.”

Arvid Soderblom made 27 saves for the Blackhawks (13-30-2), who have lost nine of 11 (2-8-1).

“I didn’t think we skated and forechecked and took the body on their defense, which we wanted to,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “They’re a great skating defense. … We just didn’t generate enough offense, obviously, with no goals. But our guys killed penalties hard and well and unfortunately a little too much, and the power play couldn’t generate much after the first try.

“Really not enough offense to have a chance to win in this League. We’ve got to definitely try and do a better job to support our goaltending with some more goal support.”

The Sabres outshot the Blackhawks 10-2 in the first 9:06 of the game and finished the first period with a 13-4 edge.

“We came out slow right from the start,” Chicago defenseman Alex Vlasic said. “It felt like nobody had jump, nobody was really ready to go.”

Buffalo coach Don Granato said, “We’ve talked about starts and lots of games there hasn’t been a good start. Tonight was a very good start after what was a different couple of days with cancellations and not even practicing (because of weather-related travel restrictions in Buffalo). So yeah, I was happy with the start. Stayed with it.”

Girgensons gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 12:27 of the second period when he redirected Johnson’s shot through the five-hole.

“Big goal by Zemgus in the second, obviously, going to the right area,” Granato said. “And he’s obviously a leader for us. It was nice to see that.”

Peterka made it 2-0 at 2:57 of the third period, scoring to the short side by banking a shot off Soderblom’s mask from along the goal line to the left of the net.

Dahlin pushed the lead to 3-0 on the power play at 6:06 when his shot from the blue line deflected in off the stick of Vlasic. 

“I feel bad for that one,” Vlasic said. “But, yeah, [Soderblom] kept us in there as much as he could. It’s just kind of hard to win a game when you score zero goals.”

NOTES: Buffalo defenseman Erik Johnson left the game at 5:19 of the third after he was hit into the end boards by Chicago forward Philipp Kurashev, who received a five-minute boarding major. Granato said Johnson will “be sore” and that the Sabres will know more about his status Friday. … Luukkonen’s shutout streak is the longest for Buffalo since Ryan Miller (161:35) from Nov. 27-Dec. 7, 2010. … Luukkonen is the first Sabres goalie with three shutouts in a season since Robin Lehner had that many in 2017-18. … Dahlin’s 59 goals and 269 points in 399 NHL games are the second-most by a Buffalo defenseman prior to his 400th game, behind Phil Housley (113 goals, 359 points). … The Blackhawks had scored first in each of their previous six games. … The game was postponed from Wednesday.