At the Horn: Sabres 1 - Jets 3

The Buffalo Sabres fell into an early hole on Tuesday and couldn't climb out of it in their 3-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets at Bell MTS Place.
Winnipeg scored the game's first three goals before Rasmus Ristolainen was able to score midway through the second period.

Carter Hutton made 32 saves for Buffalo. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 25 Sabres shots and Kyle Connor had two goals and an assist for Winnipeg.

What happened

The Jets scored first when Connor accepted a pass in front of the net from Blake Wheeler with 6:01 remaining in the first period.
Winnipeg took a 2-0 lead while on the penalty kill when Poolman tipped in a shot by Connor with 3:55 left in the opening period. The Sabres have allowed 11 shorthanded goals this season. Buffalo's power play ended the night 0-for-2.
Then, with Winnipeg on the power play after a too many men on the ice penalty by Buffalo, Connor tapped in a rebound for his second of the game at the 3:41 mark of the second period to go up 3-0.
The Sabres got on the board with 9:26 left in the second. Ristolainen put in work behind the Winnipeg net, cut around to the front and from a bad angle, threw a shot on goal. The puck went off Hellebuyck's leg and over the goal line.

What it means

The Sabres are now 29-29-8 on the season and 10-19-4 on the road.
Buffalo wrapped up its Western Conference road trip with a record of 0-4-0.
At game's end, they found themselves 12 points behind Toronto for the third seed in the Atlantic Division and 12 points behind Columbus for the second Wild Card spot. Buffalo has 16 games remaining. Toronto is playing in San Jose tonight.

Roll the highlight film

Here's Ristolainen's sixth goal of the year:

Up next

Buffalo will host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday at KeyBank Center. Faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. with pregame coverage on MSG starting at 6:30. Tickets are on sale now.