After defeating the San Jose Sharks 4-2, the Buffalo Sabres completed their final road game of the year against the Western Conference.
The Buffalo Sabres finished their slate of games out west with a 12-2-2 record following a 4-2 win over the San Jose Sharks. The win wasn’t an easy one, as the Sharks gave the Sabres fits in the first two periods, spending over 10 minutes with control of the puck in the Blue and Gold’s defensive zone.
Once again, we need to give a lot of credit to goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who stopped 33 of 35 shots on goal, good for a 0.943 save percentage. The Sharks regularly attacked between the hash marks and near the crease, as the Sabres defense once again broke down time and again over the first two frames.
But Luukkonen kept this one close, and it allowed Buffalo to take the eventual lead on a Jeff Skinner goal after Tage Thompson forechecked his way into an assist. Alex Tuch scored the final goal into the empty net later on to ice the game for the Sabres. Dylan Cozens and Owen Power also scored earlier in the contest.
Buffalo Sabres improve to 17-8-2 on the road in win over San Jose
The win also moved the Sabres to within three games of snagging one of two wild card spots, where both the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins sit ahead of them with 63 points apiece. The Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers are two ahead of Buffalo with 62 points.
The Sabres will have a chance this coming week to steal one against Florida and move even closer to their first playoff berth in over a decade, but not before they play in a one-game homestand against the Toronto Maple Leafs and in a road game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
It won’t be an easy week for the Sabres. But if they can snag a couple of wins, it will pay dividends for them in the wild card race. We’ll know where they stand next Saturday night.
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