At the Horn | Blues 3 - Sabres 1

Buffalo Sabres captain Kyle Okposo scored the lone goal for the Sabres in a 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues inside KeyBank Center on Saturday afternoon.

Okposo tied the score at 1-1 less than a minute into the second period, but the Blues added goals in the second and third to secure the victory.

Jake Neighbours led St. Louis with a pair of tallies while Jordan Kyrou scored the game-winning goal at the 4:32 mark of the second period. Goaltender Joel Hofer made 33 saves.

The Sabres outshot the Blues 34-26 in the loss, led by Alex Tuch with six shots and Tage Thompson with five.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who made his ninth start in the last 10 games, stopped 23 of 26 shots, including a stellar pad save on Brandon Saad just over three minutes into the final period.

SCORING SUMMARY

Period 1, 12:53 (PP) – Jake Neighbours from Pavel Buchnevich and Robert Thomas (1-0, STL)

The Sabres came close to opening the scoring four minutes into the game as Okposo wrapped around the net and fed the puck to Thompson in front with Hofer caught out of position, but Thompson was unable to score after he was tied up in the low slot.

The Blues struck first with 7:07 to go in the opening period after Ryan Johnson was called for slashing Alexey Toropchenko in the defensive zone, sending St. Louis on the power play. Thomas fed a pass to Buchnevich in the slot before the puck deflected in front of the net and onto Neighbours’ stick at the backdoor. Neighbours sent a backhand into the empty net with Luukkonen caught over at the far side post.

Period 2, 0:51 – Kyle Okposo, unassisted (1-1) 

Thompson won the faceoff to open the period before Buffalo tied things up 51 seconds into the second when Thompson drove up the right side of the net and found Okposo in the slot to put the Sabres on the scoresheet with his 10th goal of the season.

Period 2, 4:32 – Jordan Kyrou from Colton Parayko and Calle Rosen (2-1, STL)

Despite closing out the period with a 14-4 edge in shots, the Sabres found themselves down heading into the second intermission on a St. Louis goal by Kyrou. Parayko sent a pass from the point off the end boards, which deflected off Luukkonen’s stick to Kyrou, who was alone in front to beat Luukkonen with a wrist shot at the 4:32 mark of the second.

Period 3, 18:03 – Jake Neighbours from Brayden Schenn and Kasperi Kapanen (3-1, STL)

Neighbours scored his second of the day off a rebound with 1:57 remaining to seal the Blues’ victory.

GAME GALLERY

UP NEXT

The homestand continues when the Sabres host the Los Angeles Kings at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

Buffalo will sport its black and red third jersey for the 10th time this season.

Tickets are available here.

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