Las Vegas, Nev. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Sabres shook off an ugly loss Wednesday to the Colorado Avalanche in a big way.
The blue and gold went to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Friday night and took down the defending champion Vegas Golden Knights by a final score of 5-2.
After a fruitless opening period, Dylan Cozens got the scoring started at the 7:42 mark of the second.
"The Workhorse from Whitehorse" laid an open-ice hit in the neutral zone on Vegas winger Keegan Kolesar, then proceeded to head the other way and ram a much-needed goal against netminder Logan Thompson.
The Golden Knights got on the scoreboard six minutes later on the power play, as forward Ivan Barbashev slipped the tying goal past Sabres goalie Devon Levi.
It was still 1-1 in the early goings of the third period of play, but the low-scoring affair was about to get turned on its side.
It started with Golden Knights center Jack Eichel, who gave Vegas their first lead of the night just 3:22 into the frame.
It seemed, though, that may have been the moment the Sabres really needed to wake up, because following Eichel's go-ahead marker, the blue and gold turned up the heat in the Nevada Desert.
Less than two minutes after Eichel gave the Golden Knights the lead, Casey Mittelstadt was able to even the score at 2-2 with a quick shot that beat Thompson high to the short-side blocker.
Near the halfway point of the third, rookie winger Zach Benson gave the Sabres the lead once again, as he goes to the net, gathers a loose puck and lifts a backhand over a sprawled out Thompson.
Less than two minutes later, Alex Tuch gave Buffalo a two-goal lead after Benson jumped a pass to set up his linemate to sneak behind the Vegas defense and lift a wrist shot over the blocker of the Golden Knights goalie.
The Sabres held their two-goal edge into the waning minutes of regulation before Mittelstadt added an empty-net goal to make it a 5-2 Buffalo lead.
The blue and gold are now 1-1-0 on their Western Conference road trip.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: NONE
VGK: NONE
Second Period:
BUF: 7:42 - Dylan Cozens (5) (Casey Mittelstadt)
VGK: 13:44 - Ivan Barbashev (7) PPG (Nic Roy)
Third Period:
BUF: 5:01 - Casey Mittelstadt (7) (Dylan Cozens, Connor Clifton); 9:29 - Zach Benson (4) (Alex Tuch, Mattias Samuelsson); 11:12 - Alex Tuch (9) (Zach Benson); 17:19 - Casey Mittelstadt (8) ENG (Dylan Cozens, Rasmus Dahlin)
VGK: 3:22 - Jack Eichel (13) (Paul Cotter)
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Losi and Gangi Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Devon Levi - BUF
2.) Zach Benson - BUF
3.) Jack Eichel - VGK
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What's Next:
The Sabres head to the desert to face the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night at Mullett Arena. Puck drop is set for 9 p.m. EST with pregame coverage on WGR with Brian Koziol and Paul Hamilton starting at 8 p.m. EST.