Luukkonen gets 5th shutout, Sabres defeat Islanders

BUFFALO -- Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 21 saves for the Buffalo Sabres in a 4-0 win against the New York Islanders at KeyBank Center on Thursday.

Luukkonen has five shutouts this season, which is tied with Thatcher Demko of the Vancouver Canucks for second-most in the NHL.

“It means a lot,” said Luukkonen, who did not have a shutout entering this season. “Kind of finding my footing in the net and kind of proving to myself, too, that I’m an NHL-caliber goalie and I can handle the starts. And also, overall, just how well we play as a team. I always say it feels good to play on this team, play with these guys. I’ve known a lot of them a long time now, so it means a lot to me that we kind of get the success kind of on these games we deserve.”

Zach Benson scored two goals for the first time in the NHL, and Owen Power had two assists for the Sabres (32-30-5), who have won three in a row and are 8-3-1 in their past 12 games.

“I think we're starting to find our game, our full 60,” Buffalo center Dylan Cozens said. “And I think we have confidence. We know we can beat any team. We know that every game matters a lot right now, and we're kind of buckling down and doing whatever it takes.”

Ilya Sorokin made 33 saves for the Islanders (29-22-14), who have been shut out in consecutive games after winning their previous six.

“We didn’t have a good one tonight, that’s for sure,” New York coach Patrick Roy said. “We had a few moments where if we connected we could have had generated more offense, and we did not. It was not a good performance by us. ... I thought we were flat tonight. We didn’t play a good game.”

Victor Olofsson gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead on a power play at 4:28 of the second period. JJ Peterka sent a diagonal pass to Olofsson below the right circle, where he scored with a wrist shot that squeaked between Sorokin’s arm and the near post.

Cozens made it 2-0 at 8:15, scoring from the left hash marks off the rebound of Connor Clifton's shot.

Benson pushed it to 3-0 at 9:41 when he redirected Henri Jokiharju’s slap shot from the blue line past a screened Sorokin. The Islanders challenged the play for goaltender interference, but the call stood after a video review.

“My mindset coming in every game is just compete,” Benson said. “Once you compete your skill takes over. You know, I thought as a line me, [Cozens] and [Jordan Greenway] have kind of been doing that the last couple games. And you know, we’ve just got to keep going here.”

Benson scored into an empty net at 15:06 of the third period for the 4-0 final.

“They obviously came out hard,” New York forward Bo Horvat said. “Got to hand it to them, they played a good game and took it to us right off the hop. [Sorokin] was unbelievable tonight. (It) could have been a lot worse. We’ve got to be a lot better than that if we’re going to win hockey games.”

NOTES: The Islanders were shut out in consecutive games for the first time since Feb. 13-15, 2020. … Luukkonen is the first Sabres goalie with at least five shutouts in a season since Ryan Miller had six in 2011-12. … Luukkonen has 15 wins since Jan. 1, which is tied for third-most in the NHL in that span. … Benson is the third player in Buffalo history to have a multigoal game at the age of 18 or younger, joining Pierre Turgeon and Phil Housley. … The Sabres have won seven consecutive home games against the Islanders for the first time in their history. … Sabres forward Peyton Krebs played in his 200th NHL game.