Sabres wrap: Utah snaps late tie to hand Buffalo a 5-2 defeat
Dylan Guenther's goal with 5:47 left snapped a tie, and two empty net goals gave the Utah Hockey Club a 5-2 win over Buffalo in the Sabres' first visit to the frenetic Delta Center.
It was a strong battle, but there was no road winning streak produced by the Buffalo Sabres here Thursday night.
Dylan Guenther's goal with 5:47 left snapped a tie, and two empty net goals gave the Utah Hockey Club a 5-2 win over Buffalo in the Sabres' first visit to the frenetic Delta Center.
It was a huge game for Utah, which entered the night four points out of the No. 2 wild card in the West and stayed there as St. Louis grabbed the spot with a 4-3 overtime win over Vancouver.
Buffalo owner Terry Pegula was on hand for this one, as MSG cameras showed him in a suite with general manager Kevyn Adams and assistant coach Matt Ellis.
Pegula saw a tight affair, but it was his team's ninth loss in its last 10 road games. The Sabres had snapped their eight-game road winless streak with Monday's overtime win in Boston.
Buffalo's last chance ended with 1:10 left with goalie James Reimer on the bench for an extra attacker. Utah's Kevin Stenlund was credited with his team's fourth goal as Tage Thompson's back pass went off the boards and down the ice into the vacant Buffalo net. Stenlund was going to get a delayed penalty for high-sticking Bowen Byram and the Sabres would have had a 6 on 4 with a chance to tie the game but never got the opportunity.
Arizona standout Logan Cooley opened the scoring at 17:27 of the first period after a Ryan McLeod turnover, but the Sabres got even on JJ Peterka's power-play goal with 10.1 seconds left.
JJ Peterka (77), shown in a game earlier this season, scored a power play goal in the first period Thursday night at Utah. Derek Gee/Buffalo News
It appeared as though the Sabres had scored 11 seconds into the second period after Beck Malenstyn completed a mid-air tip of a Tyson Kozak shot. Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka immediately started to wave off the goal for what was believed to be a high stick, but that was not the case. The puck hit the shaft and not the blade of Malenstyn's stick.
The problem was that Malenstyn entered the crease and contacted Vejmelka's stick. Utah alertly challenged for goalie interference and got the call, wiping out a lead tally that would have given the Sabres two goals in 21 seconds.
Sergachev's long shot beat Reimer at 11:50 of the second period after Jack McBain had a clean faceoff win over Tage Thompson, who was one of four players who effectively screened Reimer from seeing the puck. The goalie had no chance on the play.
It was the Sabres' first game in Utah, which this season became the new home of the former Arizona Coyotes. Utah has listed official sellouts of 11,131 for all 34 of its home games, but the in-house crowds are actually much higher, as 4-5,000 fans sit in seats on the end zones, with no view of the net underneath them.
Reimer was a surprise starter in goal for Buffalo and had a strong night in net making 28 saves.
Starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was not injured or ill, but Luukkonen was coming off a strong game in Monday's overtime win in Boston, and the Sabres have a back-to-back this weekend in Minnesota and Winnipeg. It was expected Luukkonen would play Thursday and the pair would split the weekend, but coach Lindy Ruff said the Sabres wanted to give Reimer a game before the back-to-back.
Utah's first goal came as McLeod's pass hit Clayton Keller in the skate and deflected right in front of the net to suddenly give the hosts an unexpected 2-on-0 down low. Nick Schmaltz got the deflection and fed the puck to Cooley to his left for his 19th of the season. Reimer just missed what would have been a spectacular save.
The Sabres had two dominant power plays in the first period and got rewarded on the second one. Zucker made a great pass to his right to feed Peterka. The goal made Buffalo 5 for its last 11 on the power play over a four-game stretch.
The lineup
Winger Zach Benson, who has been doing an excellent job driving play in the offensive zone, missed the game with the flu. Peterka returned after missing three games with a lower-body injury. Josh Norris remains injured and unable to play. He appeared in three games after being acquired from Ottawa and has now missed the next three.Peterka returned to his normal spot on the top line with Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch. McLeod centered Zucker and Jordan Greenway, Peyton Krebs centered Brett Murray and Jack Quinn, while Malenstyn played on the fourth line with Kozak and Sam Lafferty.