Hofer, Blues defeat Sabres for 6th win in 7 games

BUFFALO -- Joel Hofer made 33 saves for the St. Louis Blues in a 3-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Saturday.

"It's exciting to get the (start in) net," said Hofer, who won his third straight start. "Any time you're in, you obviously want to do good and get a win for the team. I've been able to do that, and it's been good."

Jake Neighbours had two goals for the Blues (27-21-2), who are 6-1-0 in their past seven games.

"I'm playing with really good players and being put in great opportunities by everyone around me," said Neighbours, who has 17 goals in 50 games this season after having seven in his first 52 NHL games. "So I owe a lot of credit to the people I'm playing with, the coaches for trusting me and giving me that ice time, that opportunity. So it's kind of just a blessing. I'm trying to take advantage of it."

Kyle Okposo scored, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 23 saves for the Sabres (22-25-4), who have lost two in a row and four of their past six.

"I'm surprised," Okposo said. "I mean, it wouldn't have been where I thought we would be going into the season. Hindsight is 20-20, but I can sit back and look at things that we did, or we didn't do and there's a lot of things that go into where we are. That's going to have a ripple effect, for sure, on our team. We just have to try to find another gear here because time is running out."

Neighbours gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 12:53 of the first period on the power play when Pavel Buchnevich's attempt to tip the puck from the slot redirected to Neighbours for a backhand at the side of the net.

"That was just one of those ones where it kind of finds you," he said. "And I don't even really know how I got my stick on it. It was just bouncing, and I tried to take a whack at it and it went in. But, you know, that's my job, being around the net and try and find loose puck."

Okposo scored 51 seconds into the second period to tie it 1-1. Tage Thompson circled down low before sending a pass to Okposo in front that hit Okposo's leg and deflected off the stick of Blues defenseman Matthew Kessel into the net.

"I'm playing with 'Tommer' and [Jeff Skinner], just simple, to the net," Okposo said. "I know that 'Tommer' was using his body to get to the net today and I reaped some rewards from that, but it's just getting the puck there. We just didn't do it enough tonight."

Jordan Kyrou put the Blues ahead 2-1 at 4:32 of the second. Colton Parayko's point shot hit the end boards and bounced to Kyrou in the low slot, who scored on a wrist shot over Luukkonen's glove.

Hofer helped the Blues preserve the lead, including diving to his left to stop JJ Peterka's shot from the right face-off dot on a power-play midway through the second period. Buffalo outshot St. Louis 14-4 in the period.

"Joel played outstanding," St. Louis coach Drew Bannister said. "He was outstanding for us there tonight. I thought early on, we played well in front of him, he made the saves when we had some breakdowns that we needed, and I thought we played well in front of him in the third."

Neighbours capitalized on a rebound that bounced to him in the right circle at 18:03 of the third for the 3-1 final.

"You go through ups and downs throughout the season," Skinner said. "… you've got to find a way to get out of it and sooner or later, we'll get out of it and have more confidence and the guys will feel good about themselves and things will start to click. It's just a matter of right now trying to get out of that situation."

NOTES: Neighbours scored his sixth game-opening goal of the season, third most in the NHL behind David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins (eight) and Artemi Panarin of the New York Rangers (seven). … In the past 30 years, only four Blues players have scored as many goals in a season as Neighbours at age 21 or younger: Jaden Schwartz (25 in 2013-14), Patrik Berglund (21 in 2008-09) David Perron (20 in 2009-10) and Robby Fabbri (18 in 2015-16). … The Sabres were held to two goals or fewer for the 22nd time this season, and one goal or fewer for the 13th time.