The Buffalo Sabres took the ice early this afternoon, dominating the Colorado Avalanche in a 4-0 win.
Buffalo started slow, but the team was able to pick it up and win big, dominating the second and third periods to win by four.
Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was able to record his first career shutout in the game as well, furthering Buffalo’s great afternoon.
The defense was also able to hold their own, allowing just 23 total shots and allowing little opportunities in this one.
The Sabres special teams did well also, as the penalty kill unit killed six penalties in the win. However, the power play unit didn’t play nearly as well, failing to score on three power play opportunities.
Buffalo was also sporting their beloved black and red goat head jerseys in the victory, improving to 12-1-1 while wearing the fan favorite uniforms.
Recap
1st period
The Sabres offense started slow, but goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen kept Colorado from taking advantage early.
Just over halfway through the period, Sabres forward Jeff Skinner would intercept a pass in the neutral zone and pass it to fellow forward J.J. Peterka who took a shot that got blocked, but Peterka would stay with it and fire the rebound into the net.
This puts his goal total at four on the season, as Buffalo took the lead 1-0.
Buffalo would continue to apply pressure after the goal, but Colorado’s goaltender Alexandar Georgiev kept the game close.
Late in the period, Buffalo would receive a power play, and Colorado would end up killing the penalty.
Shortly after this penalty ended, the Sabres would take a penalty and the Avalanche power play would carry over into the second period.
2nd period
Colorado had a power play entering the second period, but couldn’t do anything with this and they remained scoreless.
Almost immediately after the penalty ended, the Sabres would find themselves on a 3-on-1 opportunity, and forward Casey Mittelstadt would snipe the puck over Georgiev’s shoulder, and give Buffalo a two-goal lead on his second goal of the season.
Buffalo wouldn’t stop there though, as the team continued to generate chances, and their defense was preventing Colorado from gaining momentum.
Eventually this would pay off, as forward Tyson Jost would record his first goal of the season off a beautiful pass from teammate Alex Tuch to extend the Sabres lead to 3-0.
After the third goal against, Colorado would finally start to wake up, generating offense as they attempted to gain momentum.
However, Buffalo’s goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was again up to the task, keeping Buffalo ahead by three goals.
Near the end of the period, Buffalo would again receive a power play, before giving up a penalty of their own.
Further, the penalty against Buffalo would carry into the third period and Buffalo would look to hold on with one period to go.
3rd period
The Sabres would yet again kill the Colorado power play, and looked to hold off an Avalanche comeback.
Colorado would continue to build off their late second period surge, and would receive a few more quality chances early in the period, but Luukkonen was again able to make key stops, and the score would remain 3-0.
Buffalo’s offense would finally start to get involved around halfway through the period, applying some pressure to Colorado.
After a few chances were shut down by Georgiev, the Sabres defense started to adjust and stopped the Avalanche attack as the clock ticked under five minutes to play.
This is when the Avalanche started to get desperate, pulling their goaltender in an attempt to swing the momentum late.
However, this wouldn’t go as hoped as Sabres defensemen Rasmus Dahlin would score the empty net goal, extending the Sabres lead to 4-0 with just under three minutes to go.
The Avalanche wouldn’t be able to make a comeback and would fall to the Sabres 4-0.
Takeaways
After a slow start, Buffalo dominated the final two period on their way to a 4-0 win against a great team in the Colorado Avalanche.
The Sabres defense played well, but the star of the show was goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who recorded his first career NHL shutout in the victory.
Also, the Sabres penalty kill unit played great, stopping all six power play opportunities for the Avalanche in the contest.
Buffalo also won in style, sporting their beloved black and red goat head jerseys in the victory, improving to 12-1-1 while wearing the fan favorite uniforms.
With the win Buffalo improves to 4-5-0 on the season, and 3-3-0 at home, and now will look ahead to their showdown with the 4-3-1 Philadelphia Flyers on the road Wednesday night.
