Hutton makes 27 saves, Blues shut out Sabres

BUFFALO -- Carter Hutton made 27 saves, and defenseman Carl Gunnarsson scored in the third period to lift the St. Louis Blues to a 1-0 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Saturday.
Hutton's third shutout of the season and second in four starts helped the Blues (32-19-3) to their fourth win in five games and sixth in eight.

"It doesn't seem like we win a lot of 5-0 games," St. Louis coach Mike Yeo said. "What I like is that we defended hard tonight. That has to be a staple of our game, and it's just every team is playing for something right now, every player is playing for something right now. … It's hard hockey."
WATCH: [All Blues vs. Sabres highlights]
Robin Lehner made 32 saves for the Sabres (14-29-9), who have lost three straight games and five of their past six at home. Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen hit the crossbar with three seconds remaining.

"As a group, we can't be satisfied with playing well against a good hockey team," Sabres center Jack Eichel said. "Those are games where you need to find a way to get a goal, come up big. Someone's got to step up there. Myself, I got to step up and get something there."
Gunnarsson scored with 5:41 remaining to put the Blues ahead 1-0. He beat Lehner with a shot from near the blue line that went through a crowd of players and off the crossbar.
"All credit to [Alexander Steen]," Gunnarsson said. "I thought he was going to get the puck, then I saw he kind of stopped up the winger trying to get out and it was just easier to step into. So, he made it easy for me."
Gunnarsson returned to the lineup after he was a healthy scratch the previous three games.
"He played a great game," Yeo said. "It was not a hard decision (to put him in), like I said before that we were looking for an opportunity. We needed to get him in, he deserved to get back in, and I'm very happy for him. Obviously, getting the goal was big, but I thought he played an outstanding game all-around."
St. Louis killed a Buffalo power play after Gunnarsson was called for interference against Eichel with 2:26 remaining.
"I think my heartbeat was higher than it was during the rest of the game," Gunnarsson said. "They had a couple of good chances too, so thank god for [Hutton] and the [penalty kill] blocking shots and doing a great job. It's the worst feeling in the world sitting in the box when we're up by one."

Hutton sprawled to make the save on a Sam Reinhart one-timer from in close with his right skate blade with 33 seconds left in the third.
"I think if you ask him, he'd want to get that one back, obviously," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "I mean, it's a pretty good look and you see where Carter Hutton's at and all the categories he's leading, and there's a reason why he is there. He gets a toe on it, but Sam would probably want to get that chance back."

Goal of the game

Gunnarsson's goal at 14:19 of the third period.

Save of the game

Hutton stopping Ryan O'Reilly at 12:20 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Hutton's save against Reinhart with 33 seconds left in the third period.

They said it

"We've got a good group of defensemen, but our forwards are playing the right way without the puck right now, and I thought we managed it pretty well and we've got two good goalies that can obviously do the job when there is a breakdown. It's part of our identity, that's part of who we have to be, and that's part of how we have to win." -- Blues coach Mike Yeo
"The one thing I can say, though, is I didn't think we had a shot mentality. We passed up way too many opportunities to get pucks to the net. We talked about that before the game, and that's one area we need to get better in. We have to get pucks to the net. If we want to score 5-on-5, we need to get pucks to the net." -- Sabres coach Phil Housley

Need to know

Hutton is 4-0-0 in his past four starts with two shutouts, a 0.50 goals-against average and a .984 save percentage. … Lehner is 2-2-0 in his past four starts with two shutouts, a 0.76 goals-against average and a .976 save percentage. … St. Louis is 16-3-2 when a defenseman scores.

What's next

Blues: Host the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)
Sabres: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, PRIME, NHL.TV)