Columbus, Ohio (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres needed a great performance on Friday from goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, to go along some gritty goals to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 2-1.
Luukkonen and Blue Jackets goalie Danill Tarasov were definitely the No. 1 and 2 stars of the game, but Luukkonen with 25 saves was the third star and Tarasov was the second star with 35 saves.
Connor Clifton’s first goal with the Sabres was the game-winner, and he had a good game.
However, the best two Sabres on the ice, by far, on Friday were Tage Thompson and Peyton Krebs.
Thompson has been great lately, and has looked like the player that netted 47 goals and 94 points last season. The only problem is he’s creating glorious scoring opportunities, as he’s demanding the puck, but he can’t score on a consistent basis.
In his last two seasons, Thompson scored 85 goals. This season, he has just 16 goals and is on a 28-goal pace.
Thompson, once again, created several Grade-A scoring chances and had six shots on goal. His shooting percentage this year is 9.7% after having it at 15.9% last season and 15% the year before. His career shooting percentage is 12.7%.
Tarasov stopped Thompson on a power play breakaway, and the Blue Jackets netminder absolutely robbed Thompson when the center put a sick move on the defense and was eye-to-eye with Tarasov, However, again, the goalie came up big.
Speaking of goalies coming up big, Luukkonen made a huge save on Yegor Chinakhov when he blasted around the defense to get in alone. Luukkonen made the save with his pad, the puck went up, hit the crossbar and then went out.
During his postgame comments, Luukkonen said by meeting Chinakhov at the crease, he would’ve had to put the puck almost straight up to beat him.
Luukkonen has played 15 games in the 2024 calendar year and leads the NHL with a .936 save percentage and a 1.75 goals-against average.
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Buffalo's 2.16 team goals-against in 2024 is fourth in the NHL. The Winnipeg Jets are first at 2.10, followed by the Carolina Hurricanes at 2.11 and Florida Panthers at 2.14.
The win was Buffalo’s fifth in-a-row on the road, and seventh in eight games. Since Jan. 1, Buffalo is second in the NHL on the road at 7-1-0.
The Panthers are first at 10-1-0, while Sunday’s opponent, the Hurricanes, are third at 5-1-0.
Buffalo went 2-0-0 on the dad’s and mentor trip, and the fathers loved it. They were always smiling.
Both the Sabres’ goals in this game were hard-working, get people and pucks to the net goals.
On the goal that made it 1-1, Kyle Okposo went to the net and the line did what it does best. Zemgus Girgensons took advantage of the captain’s screen by putting a wrist shot from the left boards to the net, and Tarasov saw it too late.
Clifton’s game-winner came just 3:05 into the third period. He had been coming close to scoring his first goal with the Sabres, and on this one, he had both Krebs and JJ Peterka at the net and slot. That, again, caused problems for Tarasov.
Buffalo has won 3-out-of-4 games, with all three wins on the road and the loss at home. They’ve also won 4-out-of-6.
The Sabres get another chance to win three in-a-row for the first time this season on Sunday against the Hurricanes. Then they’re back on the road for games in Florida against the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.
