Postgame Report | Sabres hang on to defeat Blues on the road

ST. LOUIS - Tage Thompson stripped the puck free in front of the St. Louis net, chased down a rebound, and set up a Jeff Skinner goal 60 seconds into the game inside Enterprise Center on Tuesday.
Just like that, the Tage Thompson Show had hit St. Louis.
The assist was the first of three points for the former Blues forward, who added a goal and another assist to propel the Sabres to a 4-0 lead early in the second period. They survived a second-half push from the Blues and walked away with a 5-3 victory.
The Sabres extended their winning streak to four games, their point streak to five games, and improved to 11-2-1 in their last 13 contests on the road.
"I think whether we're on the road or at home, I just think we have a group that loves hockey, loves to compete and I think that's just kind of where we're at as a team right now," Thompson said. "We've got a lot of guys that are just hungry to win and hungry to perform every night and I think you see it."

The Sabres struck quickly with goals from Skinner and Alex Tuch within 1:25 of the opening puck drop. Owen Power scored for the second straight night to extend the lead to 3-0 in the first period.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 25 saves and stood tall as the Blues pushed for the tying goal during the third period. Dylan Cozens provided the much-needed cushion with a shorthanded, empty-net goal with 59.8 seconds remaining in the game.
But it was the continued playmaking of Thompson that set the tone early, an emphasis from coach Don Granato prior to the game. Granato felt the Sabres could ride the momentum early from their win in Dallas less than 24 hours prior, before the fatigue of their demanding schedule set in.
"They're obviously a really good team and we wanted to make sure that we came out keeping things simple and just taking time and space away from them," Thompson said. "I think that's what you see the first shift there. We were all over them."

Thompson extended his point streak to five games, with two goals and six assists in that span. His deceptive backhand pass to Power set up the overtime winner in Dallas on Monday.
He has 15 points (6+9) in 12 games dating back to January 3.
"The last guy you need to worry about is Tage as long he's healthy and going," Granato said. "This has been a lot of games in a really short time. So, he's finding different ways to contribute through the fatigue and through different challenges and obviously opponents playing him different, which is all good.
"It's great. Through that pressure and that challenge he's going to find ways to become better and more intuitive and we're seeing that firsthand."

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How it happened

PERIOD 1
Skinner was the beneficiary of the assist from Thompson for Buffalo's first goal at the 1:00 mark. He played the role of helper 25 seconds later, sending a pass from behind the net to set up the goal for Tuch.

Power extended the lead to 3-0 at 9:07, driving to the backdoor to tap in a pass from JJ Peterka. Thompson earned the secondary assist for his second point of the night.

PERIOD 2
Thompson toe-dragged to the net and buried a backhand shot to extend Buffalo's lead to 4-0 just 1:10 into the period.

St. Louis responded with goals from Ivan Barbashev and Braden Schenn scored 3:23 apar to cut the lead in half. Barbashev buried a backhand shot from in front of Luukkonen; Schenn picked the corner on the rush after forcing a turnover at the opposite end of the ice.
The Sabres killed their first penalty of the night later in the period to keep the lead at 4-2.
PERIOD 3
Jordan Kyrou picked a corner from the high slot to pull the Blues within one just 47 seconds into the period.
The Sabres buckled down from that point on with Luukkonen standing tall as the last line of defense. The goaltender stopped Brandon Saad on a breakaway with roughly five minutes to play and aggressively gloved a shot from the right circle by Vladimir Tarasenko.
With 1:46 remaining, Peyton Krebs was called for a faceoff violation, putting the Blues on a 6-on-4 advantage after they pulled the goaltender. Cozens found the empty net and put the Sabres up by two with 59.8 seconds remaining.

What we learned

1.The Sabres now trail the Capitals, owners of the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, by three points with three games in hand. The Sabres (.564) are ahead of the Capitals (.560) in points percentage.
2.Tuch is now on a six-game point streak while Thompson and Skinner both extended their point streaks to five games.
3.Skinner hit the 20-goal mark for the ninth time in his career. He joins Thompson, Tuch, and Victor Olofsson as the fourth Sabres player to hit 20 goals this season.
The Sabres last had four players score 20 or more goals through 47 games in 2006-07: Thomas Vanek (24), Chris Drury (23), Maxim Afinogenov (21) and Jason Pominville (20).
4.Luukkonen improved to 10-2-0 with a .915 save percentage in 12 starts dating back to December 15. He jumped to the edge of crease to challenge Tarasenko's late chance from the right circle, which Granato saw as continued evidence of Luukkonen's confidence.
"He stood tall," Granato said. "He made it look simple, made it look easy. He made it look like he read where they were going before the shot was coming. So, very impressive by Upie and he continues to grow better and better. It's almost like he wanted more shots and wanted more challenge and he looked that confident in there which is very nice."

Up next

The road trip continues Thursday in Winnipeg. Coverage on MSG begins at 7:30 p.m. The puck drops at 8 on MSG and WGR 550.