Tonight the Sabres went into Vegas after a 5-1 loss in Colorado on Thursday and bounce back really well, with a 5-2 win against Jack Eichel and the defending Stanley Cup Champion Golden Knights in a fun game.
Good first period on both ends of the ice, going into the first intermission with a scoreless game. The Sabres played well though. We got outshot 13-10, but it was a decent period. We put pressure and got some decent chance to score. Levi was great in our goal to keep it scoreless.
After a Vegas goal was disallowed, Dylan Cozens opened the scoring tonight with a nicely placed shot 7:42 into the second period after a big hit to cause a turnover in the neutral zone. The Knights answered back with 6:16 left in the period with Ivan Barbashev getting the tying goal, coming into the middle of the ice and getting the rebound past Levi to tie the game up at 1. Another really good period there for Buffalo, still tied up going into the third.
Former Sabre, Jack Eichel, who when he got drafted second overall by the Sabres when we lost the McDavid sweepstakes, got the Golden Knights their first lead of the game against his former team, tipping the rebound of Paul Cotter’s shot into the open net just 3:22 into the third period. It didn’t take long for the Sabres to tie it up again though, with a beautiful pass from Dylan Cozens 5:01 into the period finding the back of the net on Casey Mittelstadt’s low angle one timer. Zach Benson, on a beautiful backhander scored right in front of the net, to take the lead with 10:31 left in regulation. After Eichel scorer earlier, Alex Tuch, who was the biggest return in the Eichel trade, had to get on the scoresheet himself, getting a mini breakaway with 8:48 after a good play by Benson to get him the puck on a takeaway in the neutral zone, putting the Sabres up 4-2. With 2:41 left in the game, Casey Mittlestadt scored an empty netter to ice off the game 5-2 and cash the over.
Final: Sabres 5, Golden Knights 2
Pretty impressive win for the Sabres tonight. From start to finish they played really well with a great game for Buffalo on both ends of the ice tonight. We were outshot 34-27, out chanced 17-12 and outplayed by an expected goal rate of 5.72-3.04 but still figured out a way to get the win tonight. Pretty solid game and it was fun to watch from start to finish.
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