Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - There’s been a lot of inconsistency in the Buffalo Sabres' game, but their last three home games have been exactly what head coach Lindy Ruff wants from his team. This included Tuesday night's 4-2 win over a stingy Dallas Stars team in Downtown Buffalo.
The Sabres were very good from start-to-finish in all three zones, and got another fantastic game from goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Luukkonen held a 3-0 lead until Dallas pulled the goaltender for the extra attacker, and scored a goal off a Sabres player at 15:24 of the third period. Another goal for Dallas came when Tyler Seguin came out from behind the net and found himself with a wide-open net at 17:48.
There was no panic from Luukkonen or his teammates, though, and they stuck with it and locked it down before Alex Tuch scored an empty-net goal to seal the win.
This team had 10 blocked shots by the 10-minute mark of the game, and were in shooting lanes all night long. Jordan Greenway and Connor Clifton both had five blocked shots, while Owen Power had four, to go with his three points.
The Sabres finished the night with 27 blocked shots.
Power had three assists in the win, and two were gorgeous. However, I was more impressed with his defensive game. He was quick to battles, he killed plays all night long, and then quickly got the team up into transition.
The 21-year-old was a big reason why the penalty kill had its best night, going 3-for-3 with very few quality chances against.
Power has points in three-straight games, scoring a goal and four assists for five points.
Luukkonen showed us last year in his first season as a No. 1 goalie in the NHL that the more he played, the better he got. Tuesday was the first time this season the 25-year-old got to play back-to-back games, and he’s 2-0-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage.
He made 28 saves on 30 shots faced on Tuesday, and was quick in the crease and out challenging shooters.
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Buffalo also scored four goals on the best defensive team in the NHL. They now have 22 goals in their last five games. That’s 4.40 goals per-game, which is third in the NHL in that time frame.
The Sabres are 3-1-1 in those games, which is a .700 points percentage. That’s eighth in the league since Oct. 12.
Buffalo has gotten some players on some good streaks:
- Ryan McLeod scored just 1:23 after Peyton Krebs had opened the scoring. McLeod has goals in four-straight games and points in five-straight.
- Tage Thompson scored on an absolute bomb from the left circle to give him points in five-straight games, netting four goals and three assists for seven points.
- Tuch has three goals and six assists for nine points in his last seven games.
This is a win this team can be proud of, and can build on going forward. They beat one of the top-two teams in the NHL, and the No. 1 goalie in the league.
Buffalo doesn’t play again until Saturday afternoon when the Detroit Red Wings come to town. Faceoff in Buffalo is slated for 1 p.m. ET.