The Buffalo Sabres picked up right where they left off the night before, handing the St. Louis Blues a 6-2 defeat in front of a raucous crowd at KeyBank Center on Wednesday night.
The Sabres scored right away for the second straight night. Jeff Skinner's goal 18 seconds into the night gave the team a 1-0 lead. Alex Tuch received the lone assist on the game's first goal.
The Sabres were credited with 11 shots on goal in the opening period, and have several other quality scoring opportunities that did not count toward the shot total. St. Louis had eight shots of their own in the first.
St. Louis scored on the power play less than a minute into the second period when a fortunate bounce ended up in the Sabres net. A pass to the top of the crease hit off of Mattias Samuelsson's skate and gave Pavel Buchnevich his sixth goal of the year.
Buffalo answered with three straight goals to open up a 4-1 lead midway through the middle period. Dylan Cozens buried a three-on-one opportunity in the offensive zone to give the Sabres a one-goal lead. Vinnie Hinostroza and J.J. Peterka assisted on the goal.
The first of back-to-back power play goals came thanks to a Victor Olofsson one-time after being given the puck by Owen Power.
Jeff Skinner dazzled for his second goal of the night and extend the Sabres lead to three by creating space in the slot with Nick Leddy in the penalty box,
The Blues thought they had pulled within a pair of goals on Buchnevich's second goal of the night. However, a successful challenge for offside took the goal off the board and kept the score 4-1 in favor of Buffalo. Vladimir Tarasenko was the player in ahead of the puck that negated the score.
Jack Quinn scored his second goal of the season, using Ivan Barbashev as a screen to hide his wrist shot. Quinn's goal that beat Jordan Binnington extended the Sabres lead to 5-1 midway through the third period.
Quinn added his second goal of the period minutes later to extend Buffalo's lead to 6-1.
Brayden Schenn would score moments later to trim the Blues deficit to 6-2. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 34 saves to help lead to the Sabres victory.
Game Summary
Goal Summary
First Period
BUF: 0:18 - Jeff Skinner (8) (Alex Tuch)
STL: none
Second Period
BUF: 2:53 - Dylan Cozens (5) (Vinnie Hinostroza, J.J. Peterka)
5:57 - Victor Olofsson (10) PPG (Owen Power, Casey Mittelstadt)
13:01 - Jeff Skinner (9) PPG (Alex Tuch)
STL: 0:53 - Pavel Buchnevich (6) PPG (Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas)
Third Period
BUF: 12:44 - Jack Quinn (2) (unassisted)
18:43 - Jack Quinn (3) (unassisted)
STL: 18:56 - Brayden Schenn (6) (Noel Accari, Ivan Barbashev)
Penalty Summary
First Period
BUF: 5:36 - Casey Mittelstadt (2 min., high-sticking)
20:00 - Tage Thompson (2 min., tripping)
STL: 4:24 - Vladimir Tarasenko (2 min., tripping)
Second Period
BUF: none
STL: 4:49 - Jordan Kyrou (2 min., slashing)
11:19 - Nick Leddy (2 min., hooking)
Third Period
BUF: 19:55 - Vinnie Hinostroza (2 min., roughing)
STL: none
Losi and Gangi Three Stars
1. Jeff Skinner
2. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
3. Jack Quinn
What's Next
The Sabres will remain home to host the New Jersey Devils on Friday night at KeyBank Center. The puck drops on the flasghip home of the Sabres Radio Network - WGR Sportsradio 550 at 8 p.m. the day after Thanksgiving. Pregame coverage with Brian Koziol starts our coverage at 7 p.m.