The two players acquired by in the Nov. 4 trade involving Jack Eichel to the Vegas Golden Knights helped ruin the former Sabres captain's return to Buffalo.
Thanks to goals from Peyton Krebs, Victor Olofsson and Alex Tuch, the Sabres prevail, 3-1, over the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night at KeyBank Center. The win also marked career win No. 300 for goalie Craig Anderson, who stopped 30 of 31 shots faced in the victory.
Krebs got the Sabres on the scoreboard first with a goal against his former team on a tip in front of the net. Vinnie Hinostroza made the pass, and was credited with an assist along with Dylan Cozens. The goal gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead nearly eight minutes into the game.
Krebs took a pair of penalties after his goal, but Buffalo was able to kill each off and preserve their one-goal lead. Rasmus Dahlin was also penalized in the opening period, but the team was able to keep Vegas from scoring.
Near the end of the first period, Rasmus Asplund blocked a pair of Golden Knights and was shaken up. He did not come out to the bench for the start of the second period and ended up sitting out the rest of the game.
There were a pair of fights in the second period that energized both teams.
First, it was John Hayden and Ben Hutton dropping the gloves. Hayden landed a few punches and then took Hutton down to the ice. Minutes later, Keegan Kolesar and Casey Fitzgerald fought. Kolesar was assessed an extra two-minute roughing minor for punching Fitzgerald when they were both down on the ice.
After the fight, Fitzgerald did not take another shift in the game, as he left the contest with an upper-body injury.
Hutton tied the game at 1-1 midway through the third period with a fortuitous deflection off of Krebs' stick just inside the blue line. Former Sabres winger William Carrier had to get out of the way of the rising puck, and that did not allow Craig Anderson to see the shot. The game-tying goal was unassisted.
Olofsson took advantage of Buffalo's fourth power play chance of the night to give the team a 2-1 lead late in the third. The forward wired a wrist shot into the top corner of the net late in the man advantage with Jonathan Marchessault in the penalty box for slashing.
Tuch capped off the scoring with an empty-net goal to give Buffalo its 3-1 win.
The victory marked the 300th win for Anderson in his career. The 40-year-old's teammates remained on the ice and congratulated the netminder, as he was named the game's first star.
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GAME RECAP
Scoring Summary:
First Period:
BUF: 7:53 - Peyton Krebs (4) (Vinnie Hinostroza, Dylan Cozens)
VGK: NONE
Second Period:
BUF: NONE
VGK: NONE
Third Period:
BUF: 16:16 - Victor Olofsson (10) PPG (Kyle Okposo, Henri Jokiharju); 19:24 - Alex Tuch (8) ENG (Unassisted)
VGK: 12:01 - Ben Hutton (3) (Unassisted)
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Penalty Summary:
First Period:
BUF: 9:50 - Peyton Krebs (Slashing - 2 min.); 12:28 - Peyton Krebs (Tripping - 2 min.); 18:24 - Rasmus Dahlin (Slashing - 2 min.)
VGK: 4:46 - Nicolas Roy (Hooking - 2 min.)
Second Period
BUF: 2:35 - John Hayden (Fighting - 5 min.); 5:53 - Casey Fitzgerald (Fighting - 5 min.); 7:40 - Rasmus Dahlin (Cross checking - 2 min.); 14:39 - Kyle Okposo (Slashing)
VGK: 2:35 - Ben Hutton (Fighting - 5 min.); 5:53 - Keegan Kolesar (Roughing - 2 min.; Fighting - 5 min.); 7:40 - Michael Amadio (Slashing - 2 min.)
Third Period
BUF: NONE
VGK: 7:57 - William Karlsson (Tripping -2 min.); 14:33 - Jonathan Marchessault (Slashing - 2 min.)
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Losi and Gangi Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Craig Anderson - BUF
2.) Peyton Krebs - BUF
3.) Alex Tuch - BUF
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What's next:
The Sabres will head to Hamilton, Ontario to take part in the 2022 Heritage Classic at Tim Hortons Field, home of the Canadian Football League's Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Faceoff is set for 4 p.m. EST with pregame coverage on WGR starting at 3 p.m. EST with Brian Koziol.
