St. Louis, Mo. (WGR 550) - It was a trying Thursday night in St. Louis for the Buffalo Sabres.
Despite owning zone possession and shot totals throughout the night, the Sabres found themselves trailing by multiple goals in an eventual 6-4 road loss to the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center.
The home team got off to a hot start in the opening period, as the Blues scored three times in the first 11 minutes of play. St. Louis made it nice and difficult on Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and the Sabres from the jump.
Off a draw, Blues forward Brandon Saad wreaked havoc just 68 seconds into the contest to make it 1-0.
Moments later on a power play, Blues captain Brayden Schenn snapped in a shot to extend the St. Louis lead by a pair.
Then just past the midway point of the period, forward Jake Neighbours made it 3-0 with his eighth of the season.
Buffalo got a goal back before the end of the period, as defenseman Rasmus Dahlin loaded up the cannon from the point and tallied his fifth goal of the 2023-24 season.
In the second period, both teams traded off two-goal runs.
First, it was the Sabres climbing all the way out of the hole they dug in the first period of play. Zach Benson scored his second-career goal off a faceoff win by center Dylan Cozens in the Blues' zone at the 6:10 mark.
Just under five minutes later, Peyton Krebs netted his long-awaited first goal of the season off a rebound chance in front of the Blues net.
Unfortunately, the Blues crashed the party and tacked on two more goals before both sides broke for a second intermission.
The consecutive tallies came just 24 seconds apart, as veteran Kevin Hayes snuck one behind Luukkonen, followed by Schenn scoring his second of the game with Luukkonen stuck way out of position to make it 5-3, Blues.
The Sabres' frustrating evening culminated in the third period.
St. Louis tacked on a sixth goal, as Neighbours scored his second tally of the night to make it 6-3 for the Blues.
The closest Buffalo got again was 6-4 when JJ Peterka reached double-digit figures with his 10th goal late in the contest in a 6-on-5 scenario.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: 13:32 - Rasmus Dahlin (5) (Kyle Okposo, Peyton Krebs)
STL: 1:08 - Brandon Saad (4) (Oskar Sundqvist); 5:02 - Brayden Schenn (7) PPG (Torey Krug, Robert Thomas); 10:59 - Jake Neighbours (8) (Nick Leddy, Pavel Buchnevich)
Second Period:
BUF: 6:10 - Zach Benson (2) (Dylan Cozens); 10:53 - Peyton Krebs (1) (Rasmus Dahlin, Jordan Greenway)
STL: 13:04 - Kevin Hayes (5) (Jordan Kyrou, Brayden Schenn); 13:28 - Brayden Schenn (8) (Jordan Kyrou, Kevin Hayes)
Third Period:
BUF: 16:42 - JJ Peterka (10) (Dylan Cozens, Zach Benson)
STL: 4:38 - Jake Neighbours (9) (Pavel Buchnevich, Justin Faulk)
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Losi and Gangi Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Brayden Schenn - STL
2.) Jake Neighbours - STL
3.) Kevin Hayes - STL
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What's next:
The blue and gold kick off December with a Saturday night road swing in Raleigh, North Carolina against the Hurricanes. Puck drop inside PNC Arena is set for 7 p.m. ET, and pregame with Brian Koziol and Paul Hamilton starts at 6 p.m. ET. You can hear all the action on the radio home of the Buffalo Sabres - WGR Sports Radio 550.