Jack Eichel scored the lone goal for the Sabres, which cut the deficit in half early in the second period. The Blues never relented, responding first with a power-play goal from David Perron later in the period and then with a pair of markers from Alexander Steen in the third.
It was the sort of persistent, grinding game that newly acquired forward Michael Frolik came to expect from the reigning Stanley Cup champions during his time in the Western Conference.
"It's always a lot of battles there and they play the right way," Frolik said. "It's never easy against them. … You need to play the ugly game and be kind of patient. When you're behind them, when they're up, they even tighten up more defensively and it's not easy to beat them."
Part of the focus afterward was on the Sabres' lack of offensive chances. They were outshot, 30-19, and Krueger stressed the need both for more volume and additional net-front presence in the coming weeks while Jeff Skinner and Victor Olofsson recover from injuries.
"One is everybody needs to get hungrier to shoot on net," Krueger said. "I think we still give up too many opportunities, our D and our forwards, to try to make a play. And the other thing will be to get bodies there. There was opportunity around the net where we didn't stick around.
"So, those two components, with Ollie and Skins out, we need to find other ways to create net pressure. We're going to have to work hard on that to turn this result around on Saturday against Vancouver. We don't have a lot of time and it's going to be one of the main focuses, to create more net pressure."
