Thompson, Sabres hold off Blues for 4th straight victory

ST. LOUIS-- Tage Thompson had a goal and two assists for the Buffalo Sabres, who held on to win their fourth straight game, 5-3 against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch each had a goal and an assist, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 25 saves for the Sabres (25-19-3), who won in St. Louis for the first time since Dec. 27, 2009 (0-7-2).
"They're obviously a really good team, and we wanted to make sure that we came out making things simple and just taking time and space away from them," Thompson said. "I think that's what you see in the first shift there. I think the whole first period we stuck to the game plan pretty well and wore them down. In the second, I think we got a little relaxed, a little too comfortable, and obviously they're a good team, they're going to make a push, and they did."

Justin Faulk and Torey Krug each had two assists for the Blues (23-22-3), who have lost four of six and finished a season-long seven-game homestand 3-4-0. Jordan Binnington made 26 saves.
"It's starting on time," St. Louis forward Brayden Schenn said. "You can't do that two games in a row and expect to come back from 4-0 and 3-0 (in 5-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday). Obviously, you make pushes, but the reality is it's hard to come back from 3-0 or 4-0 in this league. We, myself included, gave up the slot early there in the first two minutes. Before you know it, it was 2-0."
Skinner made it 1-0 Buffalo at 1:00 of the first period when he one-timed a pass from Thompson in the slot.
Tuch scored 25 seconds later to make it 2-0, scoring with a quick shot in the slot after receiving a pass from Skinner from behind the net.

Owen Power scored his second goal in as many nights to make it 3-0 at 9:07, finishing a backdoor tap-in off a pass from JJ Peterka.
Thompson extended the lead to 4-0 at 1:10 of the second period. He scored with a backhand in front off a pass from Tuch after Colton Parayko turned the puck over in the neutral zone near the Sabres' blue line.
Ivan Barbashev cut the lead to 4-1 at 4:33 with a spinning backhand near the left hash marks.
Schenn then made it 4-2 at 7:56 when he shot glove side from the top of the left circle on a 4-on-2 rush.
"It was really close I thought to make it 5-0, and it didn't happen and they came back in the game, give credit to them," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "They fought hard. They are a good hockey team, and the atmosphere got going and you've got to win games and find ways to win games regardless. You've got to be able to handle adversity, adverse situations. I thought our guys through the end battled extremely well even down a man, two men with the goalie pulled. We looked confident and stayed aggressive."
Jordan Kyrou scored 47 seconds into the third period to cut it to 4-3, beating Luukkonen glove side from the top of the right circle.
"We felt good between the second and third, getting two goals and getting ourselves rolling," Krug said. "Obviously, we get one first shift (in the third) and feel good about it, but we came up short."

Sabres forward Peyton Krebs was called for a delay of game penalty following a face-off violation at 18:14, but Dylan Cozens scored an empty-net shorthanded goal with 59.8 seconds remaining for the 5-3 final.
"Obviously, we didn't want the game be that close after we got up four goals, but we found a way, and that's what matters," Cozens said.
Cozens was able to score the empty-net goal with a backhand from center ice after Robert Thomas turned the puck over from the corner.
"We threw the puck away blindly, and then they got it and we should have got right on the guy and killed it and we didn't do that and they got the goal 6-on-4," Berube said. "Don't need to throw it away at that point."
NOTES: Thompson has eight points (two goals, six assists) in a five-game point streak. ... Skinner has six points (two goals, four assists) in a five-game point streak. ... Tuch has eight points (three goals, five assists) in six-game point streak. ... Krug returned after missing 13 games with a lower-body injury. He played 21:15. ... Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko had five shots in 17:19 after missing 10 games with a right hand injury. ... St. Louis placed forward Pavel Buchnevich on injured reserve with an ankle infection. He will be reevaluated after the All-Star break. ... Parayko, who was demoted down to the third defense pair, was minus-4.