Today the Sabres made it three straight wins after the 13 game losing streak, with UPL stealing the game as he made 35 saves to get us the 4-2 win in St. Louis in a game where we were outshot 37-16.
The Blues looked like the better team in this one early, but Payton Krebs put the Sabres up 1-0 with 13:08 left to go in the first, tipping the puck in front from the left side of the net, scoring on the Sabres first shot on goal of the game. Buffalo made it 2-0 on the power play with 6:54 to go with Tage Thompson scoring on a simple three on two rush after Jason Zucker got the puck in the zone entry. The Blues got on the board with 4:13 left in the first period on four on four play with a good second effort from Schenn right in front after UPL made the initial save on a shot and neither he or Dahlin could successfully clear the puck out of the crease. Not too bad of a first period with a fantastic period for UPL, making 15 saves on the 16 shots we saw. Although we didn’t generate many shots, nice to have the lead after 20 minutes.
The second period was scoreless, which I didn’t love for my over. Both teams had some decent chances, but the Blues I thought were the better team and controlled the puck more, as through two periods the Sabres have just twelve shots on goal.
The Blues tied the game up at 2-2 with 14:04 left in regulation, with Walker getting the third effort on the rebound to score. Jason Zucker gave the Sabres the lead back with 9:30 left on a quick shot from the circle on the power play. Jiri Kulich hit the over for me on this game with 3:41 left to go in the third, taking it coast to coast and scoring five hole on a Binnington from a low angle shot for a sick goal.
FINAL: Sabres 4, Blues 2
Fantastic game in goal from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen making 35 saves on the 37 shots that he saw today. The Blues absolutely should have beat us today as the Sabres generated just 16 shots on goal, but UPL stole this game for us to get the third win in a row. We didn’t play great but found a way to win, we’ll take it.
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