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. 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 at 9:14. 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 period 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.
