‘We can beat anybody’ | Luukkonen’s shutout continues Sabres’ excellence in net

LAS VEGAS – The “LUUUUKK” chants were audible and aplenty on Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena.

A healthy dose of Sabres fans who made the roughly 2,000-mile trip from Buffalo to Las Vegas were treated to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s first shutout of the season, and the eighth of his career. The goaltender stopped all 28 shots in a 2-0 Sabres win over the Golden Knights.

“I love that,” said Luukkonen, who heard his name from the crowd throughout a dominant night in net. “I appreciate all our fans. It’s always great to see them on the road, and especially in games like this, where we’re fighting (with a) one-goal lead. It’s a huge thing for us, and for me personally.”

The blue-and-gold fans on site, plus those back home who stayed up late to watch, saw the Sabres earn their 31st win in the last 39 games and pull even with the Carolina Hurricanes (at 90 points) for first place in the Eastern Conference.

“It’s unreal,” Dahlin added of the Sabres-heavy crowd. “It means so much. They are as big a part of this as we are.”

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A bit of St. Patrick’s Day luck helped Buffalo take the lead late in the first period. After Adin Hill fumbled the puck behind the net, a forechecking Josh Doan banked it off the scrambling Vegas goalie for his 22nd goal of the season.

“He’s getting back on his post. Sometimes, it’s easy to throw it in there off their feet and create a little bit of chaos,” said Doan, who also had Josh Norris ready for a pass in the slot. “… Just put it into that area and hope for something good to happen.”

The final 40 minutes featured some of the best defensive hockey of this great Sabres run. Buffalo was clearly the faster of the teams and used that to its advantage, consistently closing on Golden Knights puck carriers and shutting down rush opportunities before they developed into anything dangerous.

In their own zone, the Sabres saw the likes of Mitch Marner, Jack Eichel and Mark Stone possess the puck a fair bit, but many of their shifts resulted in low-quality scoring chances, if any.

“I thought our D really did a nice job taking away their speed, meeting them at the line, not giving a lot of space,” coach Lindy Ruff said.

And when Vegas did test Luukkonen, he was ready. The 6-foot-5 Finn looked calm in his crease, quickly pounced on loose pucks to end net-front scrambles and got across to stop several Grade-A shots. In the first, shortly before the Doan goal, Luukkonen made his flashiest save of the night, a glove robbery on defenseman Brayden McNabb.

Natural Stat Trick credits Luukkonen with 3.19 goals saved above expected in the game.

“I thought he was really in control of his crease, and he was aggressive when he needed to be,” Ruff said.

The ice tilted in Luukkonen’s direction late, but he made nine third-period saves to maintain the lead. And Norris secured the win with an empty netter in the final minute, his 10th goal.

Goaltending continues to be the backbone of these Sabres, who lead the NHL (by a wide margin) with a .917 save percentage since Dec. 9. Luukkonen, individually, has a .921 mark and 12-3-1 record during that span, and Tuesday’s win gave him and the team yet another reason to feel good about themselves right now.

“When he plays like that,” Doan said, “we can beat anybody.”

Here’s more from the win.

Benson absorbs major hit

Midway through the third, McNabb leveled Zach Benson with a late, high hit after a shot. The officials initially handed McNabb a major penalty but, after review, deemed it a clean hit. Ruff and an irate Dahlin were both told the hit wasn’t late enough.

Noah Ostlund, for the second time in the last few weeks, stepped in without hesitation to defend his teammate. The rookie forward is hardly the biggest guy on the ice, but he continues to impress – like the rest of the Sabres – with his eagerness to retaliate.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Dahlin, whom Ostlund defended last month in Tampa. “He’s the ultimate teammate. He plays the right way, he’s a team-first guy. That’s a guy every team wants on their team. He’s doing an unbelievable job. I’m so proud of him.”

Benson just had the wind knocked out of him and was fine to finish the game.

Strong night for Stanley-Metsa pair

Tuesday offered a first look at Zach Metsa and Logan Stanley together on the third pair, and the initial returns are encouraging. They made few, if any mistakes with the puck, and Buffalo led in shot attempts, shots on goal and high-danger scoring chances during their 5-on-5 minutes (Natural Stat Trick).

“I thought that pair really gave us a good night,” Ruff said. “I thought Metsa, again, was really good with the puck, just made a lot of great decisions. I think it probably even helped Logan with his game. They broke the puck out well, so they didn’t spend a lot of time in the zone.”

Metsa wasn’t credited with an assist, but it was his dump-in that set up the Doan goal. And Stanley skated a team-high 4:01 shorthanded as the Sabres’ penalty kill went 3-for-3.

Tuch sits, Kozak enters

Alex Tuch was unavailable for the Sabres due to illness, so Tyson Kozak re-entered the lineup for his first game since March 3.

Kozak always provides a jolt of energy when he returns to the lineup, and Tuesday was no different, as he delivered four hits in 11:10 of ice time and won all three of his faceoffs.  Despite playing in just 40 games so far, the second-year forward ranks fourth on the team with 102 hits.

Postgame sound

Up next

The Sabres face the San Jose Sharks on Thursday at 10 p.m. EDT. MSG’s pregame coverage starts at 9:30.