The Buffalo Sabres began their four-game Western road swing on the right foot, shutting out the Vegas Golden Knights 2-0 at T-Mobile Arena. Josh Doan scored late in the first period and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made that hold up with 29 saves. Josh Norris added an empty netter to give the Sabres the victory, and their 10th win after the Olympic break. Buffalo maintained their four-point lead on Tampa Bay, who won over Seattle on Tuesday.
Head coach Lindy Ruff commented on the performance and the health of forward Zach Benson, who took a high hit from former Sabre Brayden McNabb midway through the third period.
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What were your thoughts on the effort in the victory?
I thought we worked really hard, I thought we were a little sloppy in the first period. I really liked the second, the third period, we played the game the right way. Probably wish we would have shot a little bit more on some of the odd numbered situations that we created in the game, but the game had a playoff feel to it.
Does it show an evolution to the club that you held onto a one-goal lead for over 40 minutes?
You’re trying to lengthen that lead. We had a couple good opportunities. I thought our goaltender had a heck of a night, keeping (Vegas)at bay. Both goaltenders I thought were good, made big saves at big times, but I like the way we played in the third. We only gave up the one real big opportunity, guy got away from us in front of the net, but overall, that’s a hard win against a good team.
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What were your thoughts on Luukkonen’s performance?
He was really in control of his crease. He was aggressive when he needed to be,and I thought he read a couple plays, made a big save five-on-six on a (Jack) Eichel shot. He read the play and got there in enough time to make the save.
The referee said to Rasmus Dahlin that the hit on Benson was legal:
Yeah, he told me the same thing. I argued about that point, but I lost. Those are tough ones. Hit was a little familiar for me. Idon’t like it. I have to look at it again. I haven’t looked at it, but I thought, when I looked at it on the bench, I thought it’s a little bit late, and you really want to try to protect your players. Zach just got the wind knocked out of him.
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What are your thoughts on how this club seems to be rising to each challenge?
We’re still in one heck of a battle. When you look at where the conference is at, where the division, (and) the standings are sitting, and a lot of guys haven’t been there, and then you wonder how they’re going to handle the pressure points inside the game. I thought, like five-on-six, we did a nice job. I thought just the composure in the neutral zone to get that puck to Norris, create a lane, and then basically get an easy empty net goal. There’s some real good signs, and I think they’re believing how we need to play, how we need to play with the lead, and we’ve proven that we can win a lot of games by playing that way.
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