At The Final Horn | Anderson wins 300th career game in victory over Vegas

Craig Anderson made 30 saves Thursday night to become the 39th goaltender in NHL history to win 300 career games.
The 19-year veteran backstopped the Buffalo Sabres to an emotional 3-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights at KeyBank Center. He also became the sixth American-born goaltender to reach the 300-win plateau.
Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch both scored against their former team. Victor Olofsson netted the game-winning goal with 3:44 remaining.
Ben Hutton scored the Golden Knights' lone goal. Laurent Brossoit stopped 21 Sabres shots.
Buffalo's power play finished 1-for-4 on the power play and a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.

How it happened

The Sabres opened the scoring 7:53 into the game when Krebs skated through the slot and redirected a great pass from Vinnie Hinsotroza into the back of the net.
Buffalo's penalty killers were busy in the first period. The Sabres committed three penalties and were perfect through 20 minutes. Heading into the second period, there was a 24-second carryover on the last Vegas power play, and Buffalo was able to kill it off.
No goals were scored in the second period, and Buffalo was outshot 15-3 in a chippy period that featured two fights and a lot of physical play.
Hutton tied the game when his wrist shot from the point deflected up and in past Anderson with 7:59 left in regulation.

Olofsson put Buffalo ahead on the power play with 3:44 to play.

And then with 35.9 seconds to go, Tuch beat former Sabres captain Jack Eichel to the puck at the Sabres blue line and raced into score on an empty net and ice the victory.

Roll the highlight film

After the game, Anderson was named the First Star of the game and the following tribute played on the video board. Anderson's teammates remained on the ice with him to celebrate as his wife and family watched from the stands.

His current and former teammates, friends and other family members also sent in congratulatory messages:

Worthy of a mention

• Eichel played his first game against the Sabres since being traded with a 2023 third-round pick for Tuch, Krebs, a top-10 protected 2022 first-round pick and a 2023 second-round pick in November.
• Forward Rasmus Asplund exited the game after the first period with a lower-body injury. Defenseman Casey Fitzgerald did not return for the third period due to an upper-body injury.
• The Sabres celebrated their annual Pride Night on Thursday.
Here are some of the videos that were featured during the game:

The Sabres are hosted members of Niagara Pride, Pride Center WNY, GLYS, and Upstate NY Black & Latino Pride in a suite for the game and provided each of group with a discounted ticket offer to share with its constituents.

The money raised by the Sabres Foundation from a pregame autographed puck surprise and the team's online warmup jersey and stick auction will be distributed to those local Pride organizations.

Coming up

The Sabres will be on the national stage Sunday afternoon when they take the ice outdoors for the 2022 Tim Hortons Heritage Classic at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario.
Faceoff against the Maple Leafs is set for 4 p.m. on TNT. Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray will have the radio call on WGR 550.