‘What an awesome night’ | Pregame honors set up game-winning goal for Thompson

KeyBank Center was rocking on Tuesday for the Buffalo Sabres’ first home game in nearly a month, and the energy inside the arena reached another level pregame.

Before grinding out a 3-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights, extending their winning streak to four games, the Sabres honored forward Tage Thompson and massage therapist Brett Crompton for winning gold with Team USA at The Winter Olympics. Thompson’s mom, wife and children surprised him with an appearance for the ceremonial puck drop, and the 19,070 in the stands – a sixth straight Buffalo sellout – waved Thompson-themed rally towels.

“What an awesome night. So cool that my family got to be there for the puck drop – I had no idea that was happening,” Thompson said. “To get to share that moment with them, and obviously (Vegas’ Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin) and Bretsky, that was really special.

"And what an amazing reception from the crowd. It was a little emotional for me, meant a lot, so thank you to all the fans and the people out there who supported us and showed up tonight.”

The celebration had the Sabres revved up and ready to play. That, along with some puck luck, helped them surge out to a lead. A blocked pass created an open net for Jason Zucker, who opened the scoring four minutes in. And in the early moments of the second period, Owen Power’s point shot deflected off Vegas defenseman Rasmus Andersson’s stick and past goalie Akira Schmid to make it 2-0.

Both Zucker’s and Power’s goals were the direct results of offensive-zone faceoff wins; Buffalo won 57 percent of the draws Tuesday, its fourth-best night at the dot this season.

Thompson continued his special night a few minutes later with a lethal wrist shot on the rush, his 33rd of the season, to extend the Sabres’ lead.

“To score and hear the crowd, that was probably the loudest I’ve heard it,” he said. “Really cool. Obviously, a big goal in that time of the game.”

In fact, it turned out to be the game winner, as Vegas quickly found its footing. An Ivan Barbashev wraparound and a Pavel Dorofeyev breakaway beat Buffalo goalie Alex Lyon in a 1:37 span, turning a comfortable lead into a 3-2 nailbiter.

But these Sabres are no strangers to closing out wins, and with a solid final stretch featuring some quality chances both ways, they improved to 27-2-0 when leading after two periods.

Lyon finished with 29 saves; Natural Stat Trick credits him with eight high-danger saves and 2.71 goals saved above expected, a category where he ranks among the NHL’s best this season. As usual, he played calmly and confidently as Buffalo spent some long shifts in its own zone defending the 3-2 lead.

“They came with a pretty good push,” coach Lindy Ruff said. “They started bringing their D on almost every offensive play and creating a little bit of pressure, but I thought we handled it pretty well.”

Revisiting that puck luck, though, Vegas’ best chance to tie it didn’t require a Lyon save. A failed Sabres clearing attempt with 23 seconds remaining gave Golden Knights forward Braeden Bowman an uncovered chance in the slot. He grazed the crossbar, his second post of the game. From there, 5-on-6 specialist Peyton Krebs grabbed the loose puck, swerved through Golden Knights all the way to the red line and secured the win.

“I think that the biggest sign of really good composure tonight was the Krebs play late in the game,” Ruff said. “Didn't ice it, didn't go for the empty net. Made a great play to get it over center ice and that led to killing the last 15 seconds.”

That play, Ruff feels, is the product of “on-the-job training,” going back to last season, for how to win close games. Whereas it cost the 2024-25 Sabres in too many late situations, it’s become a calling card for this year’s group, and it has them contending not only for a playoff berth, but for home-ice advantage in the first round, too.

With 21 games remaining, Buffalo (78 points) is two points clear of Detroit for second in the Atlantic Division and two points behind Tampa Bay for first.

“There’s going to be so much adversity down the stretch here,” Lyon said, “so we just have to continue to stay in the moment and be ready for anything."

Added Thompson: “You’re not gonna have your best every night, but good teams find ways to win even when they don’t have it, and I thought we did that tonight.”

Postgame sound

Up next

Before five straight home games, the Sabres hit the road to play the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday at 7 p.m. on ESPN.