Lehner helps Golden Knights top Sabres, push winning streak to eight

LAS VEGAS -- Robin Lehner made 32 saves in his debut with the Vegas Golden Knights, who extended their winning streak to eight games with a 4-2 victory against the Buffalo Sabres at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.

Lehner was acquired in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday for goalie Malcolm Subban, forward prospect Stanislav Demin and a second-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft.
"It was obviously nice to get the win, get the first one over with," Lehner said. "Just look forward to the next."
WATCH: [All Sabres vs. Golden Knights highlights]
Reilly Smith scored twice for the Golden Knights (36-22-8), who were playing without forward Mark Stone (lower body) but increased their lead in the Pacific Division to six points over the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers.
"I think we did a good job just being patient and waiting for a couple of chances and a couple of bounces," Smith said. "But that's the way the games are going to be from now on. It was a good test for us. Eight wins in a row sounds pretty good."

Dominik Kahun scored in his debut with the Sabres (29-27-8), who have lost two in a row and remained 10 points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Carter Hutton made 24 saves.
"We played them eye to eye for 40 minutes, but that's not enough," Sabres coach Ralph Krueger said. "You've got to play them 60 minutes. We didn't do it and we need to learn to do that. We learn from pain and this is a lot of pain right now."
Kahun, who was acquired in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday, scored on his first shift with Buffalo to make it 1-0 at 2:16 of the first period.
"You just look at the next shot and just try to make the next save," said Lehner, who stopped his next 32 shots. "I thought we got better as the game went on, and obviously had a great jump in the third and got a couple of goals to settle it down."

Nicolas Roy received a centering pass from Nick Cousins all alone in front and deked Hutton to tie it 1-1 at 11:12 of the first.
William Karlsson gave Vegas a 2-1 lead at 3:06 of the third period when he redirected a centering pass from Max Pacioretty with his backhand in front. It was his 99th NHL goal.
Smith beat Hutton to the left post on a wraparound at 5:25 to make it 3-1, and he scored an empty-net goal at 18:11 to extend the lead to 4-1. Smith has 27 goals this season, an NHL career high.
Jeff Skinner scored with 12 seconds left to cut it to 4-2.
Vegas, which finished 10-2-1 in February, is 12-3-2 since Peter DeBoer replaced Gerard Gallant as coach on Jan. 15.
"It was a make-or-break month," DeBoer said. "I think coming out of the All-Star break, I don't think there was any doubt February was going to define our season. I thought the guys really dug deep."

They said it

"[Lehner's] a goalie that's going to make the first save a lot of the time. That's kind of his M.O. is making that first save. We needed more second opportunities to get by him tonight." -- Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe
"You just get traded, you want to go do your best and give the guys a chance to win. It wasn't that many shots in the second (six), but there were some good chances. Then they came out in the third and took care of me." -- Golden Knights goalie Robin Lehner

Need to know

Sabres defenseman Colin Miller, who played the previous two seasons with the Golden Knights, had two shots and five hits in 16:56 of ice time in his first game at T-Mobile Arena since Vegas traded him to Buffalo last offseason. … Marc-Andre Fleury will start in goal for Vegas on Sunday against the Los Angeles Kings, DeBoer said after the game. … Vegas' eight-game winning streak is tied for the longest in its history (Dec. 14, 2017-Jan. 2, 2018). … Golden Knights forward Tomas Nosek (undisclosed) left the game in the first period. … Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud had an assist on Smith's first goal for his first NHL point.

What's next

Sabres:At the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-A PLUS, MSG-B, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights:Host the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)