At the Horn | Sabres 4 - Blues 2

Excellent special-teams play and 35 saves by goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen resulted in a 4-2 Buffalo Sabres win over the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Sunday.

Jason Zucker’s third-period power-play goal was the game winner as Buffalo captured its third straight victory.

Peyton Krebs, Tage Thompson and Jiri Kulich also scored for the Sabres. Zucker, Thompson and Jack Quinn each tallied two points and Rasmus Dahlin notched his seventh assist in the past three games.

St. Louis dominated puck possession with a 74-27 advantage in shot attempts, 37-16 in shots on goal and 13-5 in high-danger scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick, but Luukkonen stayed strong under pressure to earn his third consecutive win.

The Sabres went 2-for-3 on the power play and successfully killed all four shorthanded situations.

Brayden Schenn and Nathan Walker scored for the Blues, while goalie Jordan Binnington made 12 saves on 16 shots.

Here’s more from the win.

First Period

Buffalo’s first shot on goal didn’t come until the 6:52 mark, but it gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead.

Off a Blues icing, Dahlin received Kulich’s faceoff win at the left wall and passed to Byram at the point. Byram’s one-time slap pass found an open Krebs at the bottom of the right circle for the goal at 6:52 – Krebs’ fourth of the season and first since Nov. 23. It marked the fifth game this season in which Buffalo scored on its first shot.

A neutral-zone turnover gave St. Louis a 3-on-2 rush moments after the goal, but Luukkonen stopped Jordan Kyrou’s initial shot and follow-up attempt.

The Sabres killed a Dahlin holding penalty midway through the period, and as soon as he exited the box, Zach Benson drew a hooking call to give Buffalo its first man advantage.

After initially struggling to establish power-play possession, Buffalo gained the zone with a 3-on-2 and Thompson ripped a shot from the high slot past Binnington at 13:05 for a 2-0 lead.

Buffalo went right back on the power play when Dahlin drew a hook behind Luukkonen’s net, but this one ended 34 seconds early due to an Alex Tuch high-sticking minor.

The Blues’ Schenn scored just five seconds later at 15:47, reaching behind Luukkonen to tap in the loose puck for a 4-on-4 goal. Buffalo killed the shortened St. Louis power play that followed.

The Sabres took 2-1 lead to the room despite being outshot 16-6, and they’ve now outscored opponents 8-1 over their last three first periods.

Second Period

Soon after Buffalo’s successful kill of a JJ Peterka cross-checking penalty, Krebs missed the net on a breakaway opportunity.

The Sabres’ first substantial offensive-zone time in the period, courtesy of the fourth line, was cut short by a Sam Lafferty tripping call at 11:06. With a few great saves from Luukkonen, Buffalo’s penalty kill came through once again and improved to 4-for-4 in the game.

Benson, tired from a defensive-zone shift, had a breakaway of his own around 15 minutes into the period but was denied by Binnington.

St. Louis outshot Buffalo 10-6 in the scoreless period, which ended with Jake Neighbours laying a hard hit on Dahlin at the horn.

Third Period

A minute into the third, Blues forward Robert Thomas drilled the crossbar on a shot from the slot.

Continued pressure finally netted the tying goal for St. Louis at 5:56. Luukkonen made an initial diving save to his left on Colton Parayko, but Walker stuck with the loose puck and found space inside the post to knot the game at 2-2.

The Sabres re-took the lead at 10:30 with their second power-play goal of the game, this one by Zucker in the slot off a feed from Quinn.

Kulich extended the lead to 4-2 with an outstanding individual effort; the forward skated the puck out of the defensive zone, passed it to himself off the boards through the neutral zone and beat Binnington with a wide-angle shot, nearly on the goal line.

Luukkonen stopped 10 of 11 third-period shots to cap off one of his best performances this season.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

POSTGAME SOUND

UP NEXT

The road trip continues Tuesday night at the Dallas Stars.

Coverage on MSG begins at 7:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 8.