Johansson earns first NHL win to lift Sabres past Jets

BUFFALO --Jonas Johansson got his first NHL win when he made 25 saves for the Buffalo Sabres in a 2-1 victory against the Winnipeg Jets at KeyBank Center on Sunday.

Kyle Okposo scored twice, and Zemgus Girgensons had two assists for the Sabres (29-25-8), who are 5-1-0 in their past six games and denied the Jets of a shot on goal in the second half of the third period.
"It's unbelievable really. I'm really thankful for the guys for stepping up like that," said Johansson, a third-round pick (No. 61) by the Sabres in the 2014 NHL Draft. "I don't think we gave up any shot really in the last nine, 10 minutes. That's just unbelievable the way they stepped up there for me and for the rest of the team to get the win."
WATCH: [All Jets vs. Sabres highights]
Blake Wheeler scored and Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves for the Jets (32-27-5), who have lost two in a row after a three-game winning streak. Winnipeg holds the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, one point ahead of the Calgary Flames, who play Sunday, and the Nashville Predators.
Buffalo trails the Toronto Maple Leafs by six points for third place in the Atlantic Division and the Carolina Hurricanes by eight for the second wild card in the East.
"It doesn't matter who you play now," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "These guys think they've got a chance to get back into it, so they're playing hard, and their record's better than ours in the last seven or eight, so they're going to be just as hard as beating Washington [on Tuesday]. The opponent isn't nearly as critical as the desperation that we'll need from 18 skaters -- all of them."
Okposo's second goal of the game made it 2-1 with a wrist shot at 7:47 of the third period.

"It's fun any time you can contribute, and winning is a lot better," said Okposo, who has five points (four goals, one assist) in a four-game point streak. "I definitely had some ups and downs in my career, but just want to keep pushing forward. I feel like I'm playing pretty good hockey, so just want to continue."
Wheeler was at the edge of the crease to tap in Jansen Harkins' pass to tie it 1-1 at 16:37 of the first.
"We've just got to get over it. We have a lot of hockey to play still," Wheeler said. "We're still in the race, a lot to play for. It's going to happen again. We want to reach our goals; it's not going to be smooth sailing. There's going to be adversity. We've got a young hockey team that's learning how to deal with that, and we've just got to fight through it."

Okposo picked up a loose puck in front and slid it past Hellebuyck to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 9:58 of the first period.
"That was really an excellent finish," Buffalo coach Ralph Krueger said. "It's something we've seen in spots through the season but if you look at the power that Winnipeg has in their forward group, the way we were able to shut down. … I'm really proud of the way the guys managed that and stayed on our toes and really [Jonas Johansson] had set up the game to make that possible in the first place, but it was a great team effort taking those points home."

They said it

"I felt pretty good. A little jittery at the start, but once the pace of the game starts going, you get right into it. Not the result [we wanted]." -- Center Cody Eakin on his Jets debut
"This was a chess match at times. You could feel the experience of Winnipeg also and how lethal they are. … It's a lot of fun and we want to keep building on this feeling right now and keep the picture small and go back to work on Tuesday." -- Sabres coach Ralph Krueger

Need to know

Eakin played 14:23 and had one shot on goal in his Jets debut. … Winnipeg defenseman Josh Morrissey was a late scratch with an upper-body injury. … Sabres center Jack Eichel's point streak ended at seven games. … Okposo had his first multigoal game since March 31, 2018 at Nashville.

What's next

Jets: At the Washington Capitals on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET, NBCSWA, TSN3, NHL.TV)
Sabres: At the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS, NHL.TV)