Nine different Sabres record a point in big win.
Score: Buffalo Sabres 7 | Vegas Golden Knights 2
Shots: BUF 35 | VGK 24
Buffalo Sabres Goals: Jeff Skinner (20), Dylan Cozens (13,14), Zemgus Girgensons (7), Kyle Okposo (12), Owen Power (4), Casey Mittelstadt (14)
Vegas Golden Knights Goals: Brendan Brisson (2), William Karlsson (21)
Plus 1: Scoring, All Around
The Sabres’ top line of Jordan Greenway, Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch was held pointless, but the secondary scoring was all in. The second line (Skinner-Mittelstadt-Okposo) accounted for three of the team’s seven goials; Cozens, the third line center, had a pair, and even the fourth line accounted for one marker.
Nine different players recorded at least a point tonight, led by Jeff Skinner and Owen Power, who each had a goal and two assists. Eric Robinson picked up a pair of assists as well. Skinner became the first Sabres player to hit the 20-goal mark, and is one point shy of 40 on the season.
Honestly, I’m not sure anyone expected this kind of production against a pretty darn good Vegas team, but you sure won’t hear any complaints over here. It’s a big win for the Sabres all around, and great to see the scoring come from everywhere.
Plus 1: Scoring Early.
Nice to see the Sabres score early in all three periods; that’s how you should come out of the locker room every night. Skinner scored just 1:22 into the first period; Cozens’ first shorthanded goal came 54 seconds into the second period. Per NHL media, the last time the Sabres scored shorthanded within the opening minute of a period was Feb. 1, 2018. Okposo’s goal came 2:20 into the third.
Minus 0.5: Too Bad It Was on ESPN+
One of the best games of the season, handing Vegas their biggest loss of the season…. of course it was an ESPN+/Hulu game. This one would’ve been fantastic to watch on MSG, with the full home crew including Dan Dunleavy, Rob Ray, Brian Duff and Marty Biron. Fans at home either got to watch, but had to deal with the ESPN+ crew and stream, which was having intermittent issues, or could listen on WGR550 and get some of the hometown feel, but not the full effect. Darn it!
Final Thoughts
Big win and a great effort from the Sabres on this Saturday night. They’ll have little time to bask in the glory of it, though, as the team is right back in action on Sunday to host one of the Western Conference top’s teams, the Winnipeg Jets. (Side note: when did that happen? Jeez, I haven’t been paying as close attention to the Western Conference as I should be.)
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has continued to look great in each game, and Saturday’s win was no different. He had 22 saves, spread almost evenly across the three periods. The next question is if he’s back in the cage on Sunday, or if it’ll be Eric Comrie set to face his former team. Earlier on Saturday, Granato and the Sabres didn’t rule out the possibility of Luukkonen playing both games of the back-to-back, considering there was no travel in between. The determination will focus on how he feels after the workload he had Saturday.
And how about Peyton Krebs? There’s been a bit of chatter about him lately and his value – what he brings to the team. Well, he certainly knows how to fire up a crowd.
Here’s a fun fact to take away, courtesy of NHL media: the last time the Sabres scored seven goals against the defending Stanley Cup champions was Nov. 13, 2006 at Carolina (7-4 W).
Back at it in less than 24 hours. Let’s see what this team is made of.