Greenway tallies 3 points, Luukkonen makes 33 saves in 7-0 win over Kings

Jordan Greenway and his fellow penalty killers huddled as they awaited a defensive-zone faceoff with 39 seconds remaining in the Buffalo Sabres’ game against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.

The Sabres’ 7-0 victory was well in hand regardless of what happened while Connor Clifton served a delay of game penalty during the final minute. They had done just about everything right to that point, beginning with a dominant first shift from the line of Greenway, Casey Mittelstadt, and Alex Tuch.

They were determined to finish it right, too.

“We did it,” Greenway said. “… We did what we needed to do to not only get the win, but solidify it.”

Greenway blocked a shot with 37 seconds remaining, followed by a second blocked shot from Dylan Cozens later in the shift. The effort preserved a 33-save shutout for Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, making him the first Sabres goaltender since Ryan Miller in 2011-12 to earn four or more shutouts in a season.

Greenway scored two goals and added an assist while JJ Peterka, Rasmus Dahlin, and Tuch had a goal and an assist each. Kyle Okposo and Zach Benson also scored goals.

It was a bounceback performance by the Sabres, who had scored two goals in two home losses since returning from the bye week despite outshooting their opponents by a combined margin of 82-56. They held a competitive, battle-heavy practice on Monday and entered their game against the Kings intent on setting the tone with their speed from the opening puck drop.

“We set the bar high tonight,” Greenway said. “We talked about it before the game. We wanted to set it high, make them go on their heels first, push them and try and continue it throughout the entire game. I think we did a pretty good job of it.”

The trio of Greenway, Mittelstadt, and Tuch spent nearly the entirety of the opening shift circling the Los Angeles zone and sending shot attempts toward goaltender David Rittich, including one from Mittelstadt that hit the post. They picked up where they left off on their next shift, this time maintaining possession while Tuch subbed out for Peterka.

With the Kings on their heels, Peterka dashed to the slot and received a pass from Greenway. Peterka’s shot trickled past Rittich, who did not notice the puck laying behind him before Peterka wrapped behind the net and tapped it over the goal line for the Sabres’ first goal.

“You can look at the stats and it’s a huge thing in a game, who gets the first goal,” Luukkonen said. “So, I think that was one of the more important things today.”

They kept their foot on the pedal from there. Greenway intercepted a breakout pass and beat Rittich for Buffalo’s second goal, then Okposo scored a deflection on the power play to increase the lead to 3-0 with 34.4 seconds remaining in the first period.

Buffalo added two goals in each of the following two periods, including a highlight-reel, spin-o-rama goal from Benson.

Greenway summed up the performance as a template for what the Sabres are capable of down the stretch – playing with pace and defending aggressively, from the dominant first shift to the desperate finish.

“We got to start somewhere,” Greenway said. “We got to be happy, be excited, be confident about what we did tonight and just expect this out of ourselves day in and day out. And I think, if we stick to that game plan, we can string a lot of wins together.”

Here’s more from the victory.

1. The 7-0 final marked the Sabres’ highest-scoring shutout victory since an 8-0 win over the Atlanta Thrashers on Nov. 8, 2001. Martin Biron earned the win in that game with 19 saves while Curtis Brown scored a pair of goals.

2. Luukkonen improved his save percentage to .944 in 11 starts since Jan. 1, which is the best mark in the NHL during that span (minimum three games played). His performance on Tuesday included a pair of one-timer stops on Kevin Fiala and Adrian Kempe while the Sabres were shorthanded during the second period.

“It feels great to help the team win, and, of course, it’s great to get those shutouts,” Luukkonen said. “But right now, it’s just about winning games.”

3. The Sabres – already without defenseman Mattias Samuelsson for the remainder of the season due to an upper-body injury – were missing another key player on the back end in Owen Power, who is considered week to week after sustaining an injury during practice on Monday.

Jacob Bryson entered the lineup in place of Power and tallied two assists for his first points of the season. Bryson skated 19:17 and finished with a plus-4 rating.

4. Bryson’s second assist set up the highlight-reel play for Benson during the second period. The defenseman one-touched a pass to find Benson all alone in front of the Los Angeles net.

Benson dragged the puck from his backhand to his forehand as he turned to face the net, then sent a shot in as he was tripped up from behind by a Kings defender.

“It was just a great pass by Brys obviously to give me that amount of time in front of the net,” Benson said. “Then obviously [the defender] got a stick on my heels and when I was falling down, I just tried to elevate it and put it on net.”

Up next

The homestand concludes Thursday against the Florida Panthers. It will be Military Appreciation Night at KeyBank Center, with tributes planned throughout the game to honor current and former members of the United States armed forces.

Tickets are available here.

The pregame show on MSG/MSG+ begins at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7. Radio coverage can be found on WGR 550.